A Helping Hand
by alexsonnn
Summary: Alex Rider/NCIS crossover. After Alex gets threatened by SCORPIA he's sent to DC where the NCIS team is assigned to look after him.Who knows how or even if Alex and the team can handle each other? There will be NO spoilers for NCIS and if there are I will post a notice.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Might be a little OOC for both NCIS and Alex Rider if its really noticeable I apologize. I was watching the newest episode of NCIS and this just popped into my head. I'm not sure how good this is gonna be but I'm gonna give it a shot. It sounded really in my head if that's possible haha. Well anyways here we go.**

"Gibbs. My office. Now," Vance barked from above the bullpen.

"Kinda busy," Gibbs said, gesturing to his Chinese take-out.

"It wasn't a request," Vance replied.

Gibbs sighed, tossed his lunch onto his desk, and made his way to the stairs.

So far NCIS had been having a pretty quiet week. No murders, no bombs, nothing.

As soon as his boss disappeared into the directors office, Tony smiled, "I smell a case!"

"All I smell Is your cologne. What did you do? Bathe in it?" Ziva said crinkling her nose.

"What do you think they're talking about? Vance usually announces to all of us when we've got a case. Not just Gibbs," Mcgee asked before Tony could retort.

"You know Vance. Always has to be in control," Tony replied, " But back to our previous conversation, before Mcgee butted his butt in; What's wrong with my cologne?"

Which of course led to a heated debate about Tony and his cologne usage. Of course until Gibbs came back down to the bullpen with a file in his hands, along with a very pissed off look on his face. He sat down, grabbed his take out, and resumed eating.

All was silent in the bullpen until, Ziva, being the brave soul that she is, spoke up, "Everything okay, Gibbs?"

"No, it's not," Gibbs replied bluntly.

"You wanna talk about it?" Tony asked smiling.

"Yeah, DiNozzo I would! If you were the Director of NCIS how far would you go to get information?" Gibbs asked.

"As far as it took, I guess," Tony replied getting serious.

"Of course you would. But would you deliberately put a civilian or more importantly a _child_ into danger?"

"Of course not," Tony said without missing a beat.

"Well apparently the England, Australia, and our very own intelligence agency would," Gibbs replied.

"What are you talking about, Boss?" Mcgee asked.

"MI6 has hired a teenaged British child to do their dirty work, and apparently the CIA and ASIS has used him too,"Gibbs said.

"And just how has that worked out for them?" Ziva asked astonished.

"Apparently its been successful. The kid hasn't failed a mission yet. And I'm not talking little here or there missions. I'm talking about real adult missions. This kid has been _shot _in the chest for God's sake," Gibbs said opening the file again.

"Damn," was all Tony could reply.

"What about this kid's parents?" Mcgee asked.

"Doesn't have any is what the file says. They died in a plane crash. He was living with his uncle who was a spy himself, but he died on a mission and now he's living with his housekeeper. Apparently they both got real close over the years and she took him in," Gibbs said looking at the file.

"I don't get it. What does that have to do with NCIS?" Ziva asked.

"Apparently he's in trouble with some international terrorists, and he needs to go into hiding until MI6 gets it straightened out. And the CIA mentioned us and our track record. The head of MI6 just called Vance," Gibbs explained.

" How young are we talking here, Boss?" Tony asked.

"A fourteen year old, by the name of Alex Rider. He'll be here early in the morning along with his guardian," Gibbs said getting up tossing the file onto Tony's desk for them to look over. Then he walked out of the bullpen and headed for the morgue to talk to Ducky.

**a/n- love it, hate it? Review...The next chapter WILL have Alex in it I promise.**


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting on a plane beside his guardian, Alex Rider was fuming. He had his summer vacation planned out, hanging out with Tom, playing football in the park, movies, all sorts of stuff. And yet here he was on his way to America. Washington, D.C to be exact.

Although she was trying not to show it, Jack Starbright was excited. She was excited to be going back to her home state to visit her family. But she knew Alex was upset about it.

"Run it by me again why we're going to Washington?" Jack asked.

"My previous mission had to do with a terrorist organization, and when I stopped their plans they weren't too happy about it. MI6 is worried they may try something, so they're sending me to NCIS for protection," Alex explained looking out of the window.

"Oh, so they can't spare a few of their precious agents to look after you?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"Guess not," Alex replied dully.

"Just think of it as a well deserved vacation," Jack encouraged.

"Just like all my other 'well deserved vacations', huh?" Alex asked jokingly.

Jack laughed, "I guess so,"

They were quiet for awhile, then Jack asked, "What agency is gonna be looking after you?"

"The Navy Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS for short. Blunt told me that Byrne said they had a great team," Alex relayed, sighing at Jacks forgetfulness.

"Lets hope so," Jack said.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider** NCIS**Alex Rider** NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

L_ater that day in Washington, D.C...._

From the airport, Alex and Jack were escorted by two MI6 agents to their apartment they would be renting for the time being. The apartment was within walking distance of Jack's parents house. Jack's parents liked Alex, they practically treated him like one of their own grandchildren.

From there, Alex and the agents made their way to NCIS. Jack stayed back to get things settled in, and to go see her parents, and assure them that nothing was wrong in London. They had both agreed long ago that there was no reason for her parents to know anything about all of the spy stuff.

"_The less people that know the better," _Alex thought as he entered the NCIS building, still escorted by the MI6 agents. They headed up to the stairs, made a right, and entered a big office.

There was a very serious man behind the huge desk at the back of the room, the man stood up at their presence and gestured for them to come in the office.

"Hello, I'm director Vance, Director of NCIS. You must be Alex Rider," Vance said eying Alex, and offering his hand.

"Yes, sir," Alex said shaking the man's hand.

"Director if you have everything under control, me and my partner have a plane to catch," said the MI6 agent to Alex's right.

"Of course gentlemen have a good flight," Vance replied.

The MI6 agent left, and Vance went around his desk and said,"Well Mr. Rider, if you'll follow me, I'll introduce you to the team."

Alex nodded and followed Vance out of the office, past the receptionists desk, down the stairs, and headed to a group of three people sitting at desks. As they got closer Alex could hear some of their conversation.

"For the last time Ziva, I did not scream like a girl," said a man sitting in the desk across from a woman with a wide smirk on her face.

"And even if he did he had a valid reason. You were playing chicken with a eighteen-wheeler!" said the man sitting at the desk beside the other man.

"Thank you, Probie!" The man replied.

The girl on the other hand, had forgotten about the conversation completely. She noticed Alex and Vance approaching them, and she was staring intently at Alex, making him uncomfortable.

"Alright team listen up," Vance barked, "This is Alex Rider, I believe you all have been briefed on your assignment. So if there are any questions let me know. Where's Gibbs?"

"Autopsy," The woman replied, eyes still on Alex.

"Very well. let him know Alex is here." And with that Vance left. Leaving Alex alone.

Then the girl suddenly stood up and went over to Alex, offering her hand, smiling., "Hello, I'm agent Ziva David." She announced with an Israeli accent.

Alex smiled back, shaking her hand, "It's really nice to meet you Ms. David."

"You can call me Ziva," she replied.

Then, the man closest to them stood up, "And my name is Anthony DiNozzo. You can call me Tony." He replied. Shaking Alex's hand also.

The other man farthest away from them was fully engulfed in his computer screen, mouthing words rapidly too himself, not at all noticing the three pairs of eyes on him.

"You'll have to excuse the Probie, he's a computer nerd. And he often gets himself into these trances. There's really only one way to get him out of it," Tony said and with that he went over to the man and slapped him hard on the back of the head.

"OW! What was that for?"

"For being rude Probie, Alex is here," Tony explained gesturing to Alex.

"Oh!" The man exclaimed getting up and coming over to Alex. And once again Alex got his hand shaken, "I'm Timothy Mcgee. Most people just call me Mcgee though."

"Or Probie, depending on your move," Tony said with a smile.

But judging on the look Mcgee gave Tony, Alex could tell he didn't like the nickname.

"Sooo, Alex....How much are you aloud to tell us about what you do for MI6?" Tony asked trying to sound casual but failing miserably.

But suddenly Alex was suspicious, "That depends. How much do you know?"

Then out of nowhere a man with gray hair, and a coffee in one hand came up and slapped Tony on the back of the head, with his free hand, "DiNozzo, don't pry it's none of your business. And besides that, it's classified."

_"Okay, what's the deal with the head slapping around here?" _Alex thought.

Then the man's eyes fell on Alex, and his face somewhat softened.

But Alex could tell that this man was in charge around here.

"What do you know about me?" Alex repeated. He didn't mean to sound mad or rude, but he had to know .

"All we got was your medical record. We were told very briefly about how you got started at MI6, but thats about it. They only gave us your medical record in case you got hurt or sick or of course if we had to take you to the hospital. And trust me we had to pitch a fit just to find out why you started working for MI6....Do you have any idea how hard it is to get information out of MI6?" Tony asked.

"You have no idea," Alex mumbled.

Then the man with the coffee came over to Alex.

"I'm Leroy Jethro Gibbs, but you can call me Gibbs...You feel like going out for a pizza?" Gibbs asked suddenly, grabbing his coat.

As a matter of fact, Alex was starving. "Sure."

"Boy, that sounds like a great idea, Boss!" Tony exclaimed also grabbing his coat.

"DiNozzo, do you, or do you not, have have paperwork to do?" Gibbs asked half way to the elevator with Alex.

"I... Uhhh....Well....," Tony stuttered looking down at the mounds of paperwork he had been putting off.

"That's what I thought," Gibbs replied.

Then the elevator opened and Alex and Gibbs stepped in leaving Tony with a hurt look on his face, and Ziva and Mcgee smirking at Tony.

**A/N- It could've been worse, but I had to get most of the introductions out of the way, I'm never any good with those.**

**And about the author's notes in the story that's really my bad, I've seen it both ways and I usually do it the other way but I didn't know which way everyone like it...haha totally my bad! I'll start doing it the right way again. :)**

**Banner- Thanks a million! I was not thinking at all about how classified Alex would be and I did my best to cover up my mistake. Haha hope it shows. Thanks you're a lifesaver! I really want to make this right! **

**review!**


	3. Chapter 3

The lunch wasn't as bad as Alex thought it was anticipating. They ate, and Gibbs told Alex just what NCIS does. And Alex asked about the head slapping but Gibbs just laughed.

Then Gibbs asked about Alex's life. But not the spy part, he acted as though that was not the reason the two of them had ever met in the first place. He just simply asked about his hobbies,sports he liked, his friends, and other basic stuff you would ask if you were meeting someone new. The only time he did mention MI6 was when he asked how spying interfered with his schoolwork.

And at first Alex was on the fence about answering his questions but he quickly warmed up to the man. Alex felt that he could trust him, and he didn't get that feeling a lot anymore.

He felt oddly like he was talking to his Ian after he had been gone on a very long mission and was trying to get caught back up on Alex's life.

"So, after I get my change back what do you say we go to your apartment and pick up Ms. Starbright? Then we'll head to NCIS so we can work out all of our plans. I'm sure she's wanting to go see her family and old friends that still live around here, but she will need an agent close by to keep an eye on her. Better safe than sorry," Gibbs said, getting up and putting his coat on.

"Who's watching her now?" Alex asked.

"The FBI is doing us a favor and watching over her. Just until we get everything set up. We've barely had a day to plan for this," Gibbs explained.

"Are the FBI as good as NCIS's track record apparently is?" Alex asked following Gibbs out of the pizzeria.

Gibbs shrugged, "They have their moments."

They got into the car and headed towards Alex and Jacks apartment. They drove a few miles when Gibbs' cell phone rang.

He answered, listened for a few seconds then shut his phone without so much as a 'bye'.

Then the cars speed picked up. Alex didn't even dare look at the speedometer. And then Gibbs started driving even more recklessly than he was before.

Alex could tell something was up. And they had missed their turn to get to the apartment.

"Gibbs, where are we going?" Alex asked warily.

"The hospital," Gibbs replied through gritted teeth, not looking at Alex.

"Why? What's wrong?" Alex gasped as they narrowly missed an oncoming car as they made a sharp right.

"Alex.....It's Jack. She's in the hospital. She left a bag out on the front steps of the apartment, I', assuming to unlock the door, and when she went back out to get it, she just collapsed. But luckily the FBI saw it happen and got her to the hospital. The doctors think that it's poisoning, Alex," Gibbs explained as gently as he could manage.

"Is she going to be okay?" Alex asked trying and failing to keep his emotions out of his face and voice. Jack was all he had left, he couldn't lose her.

"I don't know, Alex." Gibbs answered honestly, "But we're about to find out."

They flew into a parking space and nearly ran into the hospital. They then made their way to the receptionist, but got cut off by Agent DiNozzo.

"Don't waste your time, Boss. This lady is one rude chick," Tony said giving the blonde lady behind the desk a look, then leading them to the waiting room.

"How is Jack?" Alex asked as they approached Ziva and Mcgee who were also in the waiting room.

"Ducky is back there now, trying to get whatever information he can, he knows quite a few of the doctors around here," Mcgee said, more to Gibbs than to Alex, but he didn't care. He didn't even care who or what 'ducky' was as long a Jack was okay. That's all that mattered right now.

Alex sat down and stared at the double doors where he was desperately wanting a doctor to come through and tell him his guardian would be okay.

Gibbs and the rest of the team had moved off to a corner and was talking, giving Alex some space. Then the double doors did open making Alex jump up.

"Ducky, what have you got?" Gibbs asked the man who had came through the doors, ushering Alex to his side.

But he ignored Gibbs (which is something Alex had a feeling not a lot of people could do and get away with it) and looked at Alex.

"Ah, you must be young Alex Rider, I've heard quite a bit about you young man. I'm Doctor Donald Mallard, but you can call me Ducky," The Doctor replied with a Scottish accent.

"It's nice to meet you Ducky," Alex replied trying his best to still be polite to the man but right now he didn't care about introductions.

"If you're done with your introduction there duck can you tell us what going on with Ms. Starbright?" Gibbs asked again.

"Yes, of course. Well first of all Ms. Starbright was poisoned. With a plant known as the Golden Chain. It makes you excited, and makes you stagger, it can send you into convulsions, and...It can put you into a coma," Ducky finished with a grave look on his face and Alex could tell what was coming.

"She's in a coma isn't she?" Alex asked warily.

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Rider," Ducky replied.

"May I see her?" Alex asked in a daze.

"Yes, you may. Follow me please," Ducky said heading for the double doors again.

Alex followed Ducky so did Gibbs and the team.

Gibbs caught up to Alex and walked beside him, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah I'm just peachy," Alex replied sarcastically before he realized the words had left his mouth.

Luckily Gibbs understood and let it go, and fell back to the rest of the team as they approached the door Ducky had stopped.

Alex took a deep breathe and went in. The rest of the team waited by the door letting him have his own time with Jack.

Alex walked in and he saw the cords, tubes, needles, and he felt suddenly nauseous. It hurt to see Jack like this.

Yet he sat down in the uncomfortable chair, moved it closer to Jacks bed, took her hand, and waited.

**A/N – Well what do you think? I finally introduced Ducky and I PROMISE Abby is coming for all you Abby lovers out there. **

**And about the Golden Chain poisoning-apparently that's a real poisonous plant, and that's the symptoms or at least thats what it said off of the Internet if I'm totally off I'm terribly sorry! **

**And I apologize if Gibbs is OOC around Alex or if he just acts different period. I'm trying to make it like he's taking him under his wing like he does most of the other kids on the show. Haha that parts hard with out changing his character completely...But hang on I'll get there. I'll make him better in the next chapter.**

**And a Question- Was Alex okay? Not OOC? Maybe A little?**

**Jesusfreak100percent-It might help you to look it up.....and I'm not just saying that for my fic's purpose it's a really good show. But if you don't look it up and want to still read this fic when you don't get something you can always PM me and I'll explain it to you. But it's completely up to you! :)**

**R&R is greatly appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4

"We searched what food they had in the apartment, Boss, which wasn't much considering they had barely been in the house a day," Tony said leaning on the door of Jacks room.

They were having a meeting in the middle of the hallway of the hospital to give Alex a moment alone with Jack.

"And? What did you find?" Gibbs asked.

"There was an open container of salad on the counter. We took it to Abby, but were pretty sure that's where the poison came from," Ziva replied.

"How sure?" Gibbs asked.

"Fairly to pretty damn," Tony answered, "They pumped Ms. Starbrights stomach and all that was in her stomach was remains of a salad."

"Hey, boss? What are we gonna do with Alex now? He can't stay at that apartment alone. And we can't make him stay in that stiff chair till his guardian wakes up," Mcgee asked.

"Well do you have room at your place Mcgee?" Gibbs asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

But Mcgee didn't seem to catch it an answered, "Not really, Boss. My place is more of a one person place."

"Oh, you just don't want Alex messing with your typewriter, and old musty records, and your on line video games, Elf- Lord," Tony said smirking.

"I would much rather have Alex stay at my place than you, Tony. And I've only known him for a day," Mcgee relented.

"Well, he is more quieter than Tony," Ziva teased.

"Sucks about his guardian though. She was pretty," Tony complimented.

"Well she's not dead yet DiNozzo. But be careful, she's a redhead," Gibbs said wisely.

"Ducky how good are Ms. Starbrights chances of coming out of the coma?" Ziva asked.

"It will be touch and go for awhile, I'm afraid. On a scale of one to ten I'd say she's about a five or six. But these are very capable Doctors, Gibbs. And she's young and healthy so she will have greater chances of coming out of the coma as opposed to a older, unhealthy woman. Yes, if there is a way they will help her," Ducky replied.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider***

Alex could hear the team talking at the door, but only bits of it.

"_Can't stay at that apartment ....Barely even know the kid.....Much quieter than...."_

But he wasn't that interested in what they were talking about. His focus was on Jack.

He was remembering all the Christmas's they had together, every birthday. She was always there for him. Every sick day he had she would pamper him and smother him with blankets till he was all better. _Always there._

And now in the blink of an eye he could lose her.

His parents, then his uncle, now Jack.

He put his head in his hands unable to look at Jacks limp form anymore. He was certain anger would come later for the person that did this.

Then the door creaked open very gently, and presumably, Gibbs walked in.

"Alex, you can't stay in that chair until Jack wakes up," Gibbs said standing over him.

Alex stood up, "Sure I can." He replied trying one again to hide his emotions. He didn't want this mans pity. He had enough of his own.

But Gibbs could see right through him, "Alex I know you're worried. But not sleeping, and being uncomfortable isn't going to help Jack. And I'm sure she wouldn't approve of it."

"I'm not leaving her alone to let this happen again," Alex said firmly.

"No one's asking you to," Gibbs promised. He was going to say more when Ziva walked in.

"Gibbs, I've spoken to the Doctors and staff. No one's allowed in here except Alex, the doctors, and NCIS Special agents. And there will be two NCIS agents outside the door at all times."

"You can come back in the morning too see her, Alex. Visiting hours are way over."

This made Alex feel somewhat better. NCIS did apparently know what they were doing.

He took one more look at Jack then nodded. "Are you taking me back to the flat?"

"Now why would I do that? Alex like it or not you're still a minor. And considering what happened today I want you with a NCIS agent at all times," Gibbs said as Alex stood up.

"So where are you taking me?" Alex asked.

"My place," Gibbs replied simply. Like that explained it all.

Alex went over to Jack and brushed some of her red hair out of her eyes and leaned down and whispered that he would be back as soon as he could.

Then he followed Gibbs out of the door, where he was met by two NCIS agents stationed on either side of the door.

_"Very efficient," _Alex thought as he followed Gibbs out of the hospital.

They were in the parking lot when Gibbs' cell phone went off.

"Yeah? Gibbs?" He asked, answering the phone.

He listened for a few seconds, then "I'll be right there Abby,"

Then he hung up and unlocked the doors so they could get in.

"I need to make a pit stop at NCIS," He stated.

"Okay. Er, who's Abby?" Alex asked.

The reason why we're making this stop. We took what we think is is source of the poisoning and gave it too Abby, our forensic analyst. She says shes got something. I'll think you'll like her, most people do." Gibbs explained.

"So she might know who personally gave Jack the poisoned food?" Alex asked.

"Possibly. And that way we'll know at least one face to look for," Gibbs replied.

Alex hoped so. Some of the anger that he knew was coming was starting to seep through now. Alex was going to find out who personally did this to Jack no matter what.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

They arrived at NCIS with no problems, with the exception of Alex, unconsciously, peering in the rear-view mirror. The car ride there had been silent. Gibbs made no effort to make conversation, knowing Alex was still terribly worried about his guardian. He also knew this was no ordinary fourteen year old. Pretending everything was okay when it wasn't would just make him mad.

They entered the building and Alex followed Gibbs to the vending machines, coffee, and drinks. He got a Caf-Pow! And a coffee and asked if Alex wanted anything, to which, Alex turned down.

Then they went to the elevator and Gibbs told Alex to hit the down button since his hands were currently full.

Alex and Gibbs were still silent both lost in their own thoughts. Alex was thinking about Jack, of course. And Gibbs was thinking about Alex.

_"He doesn't seem like he wants to be a spy," _Gibbs thought. When they were at the pizzeria Gibbs could tell Alex didn't want to talk to him about MI6 so he changed his questions to his schooling, and friends. Nothing too personal. And he caught the comment Alex said when Tony said MI6 was hard to get information out of.

_"You have no idea." _What could he have meant by that? If a teenager was an agent it would have to be voluntary wouldn't it? They couldn't make him. It was official this kid absolutely stumped Gibbs.

Gibbs was snapped out of his thoughts as the elevator doors opened and he stepped out, with Alex following him closely. They made a left and entered a room that was blaring heavy metal music loudly. Alex thought he recognized the song as No Shelter by: Guns up! But it was up too loud to be sure.

Gibbs went over to a white CD-player and shut the music off.

"Bossman!" A woman said as she came out from a glass sliding door. She walked up to Gibbs and attempted to take the caffeine away from him

"Abs," Gibbs greeted pulling the caffeine fix away from her.

Alex was surprised. This pretty, young, gothic wasn't what Alex had been expecting a forensic analyst to look like.

Abby looked at Alex and smiled warmly.

"You must be Alex! Or do you prefer Bond?" Abby said jokes while coming around to his side to give him a hug.

Any other time Alex would be annoyed by a comment like that but the way Abby said it all he could do was laugh lightly and say, "Alex is fine." He blushed slightly at the contact, but held his composure.

"Abby? You said you had something? Please tell me you didn't call us down here so you could make small talk with Alex." Gibbs replied. Hinting that her reward was coming if she gave him what he was looking for.

"Actually it was for both! Even with my computers to keep me company it does get lonely down here," Abby said. But she walked over to one of her many computers and started hitting buttons.

" I got a partial fingerprint from the container that the salad was in. Now it wasn't easy, but we got a match," Abby reported to Gibbs.

"We?" Gibbs asked.

"I had to get Mcgee's help. We kinda...Sorta...Maybe... Had to hack into the CIA database to get the identification. There was no match in any of my searches. And since Alex is a spy we thought we might have better luck with the CIA's information," Abby admitted.

"Does the CIA know? And was that totally necessary?" Gibbs asked, not that he really cared as long as he got the information he needed, he didn't really care how Abby got it. But he needed to know if he should expect a conference with Vance for his 'undisciplined' team. And the 'you're teaching them to disobey authority' speech.

"Gibbs give Mcgee some credit here! He's a hacking genius!" Abby complimented her friend.

"Yeah, I guess the Elf-Lord does have his moments, huh? Now are you gonna show me what you got or not?" Gibbs asked again.

Alex got the feeling Abby got sidetracked in conversations a lot.

"You're very pushy today, M," Abby said as she hit the final buttons on her computer and a TV that was mounted on the wall came on and a man in his late thirties appeared. He had bright blue eyes with dark brown hair.

The three of them walked around to stand in front of the TV for a better look.

"This is Eric Yokov He's Russian. And a assassin as I'm sure you've figured out. From the file the CIA has on Yokov he's working for a organization called SCORPIA. Which is of course, the group that's after Alex. At first I was just glancing at the file and I thought it said he was a Scorpio. Which is what my zodiac sign is. Terrorist groups sure do pick odd names to call themselves," Abby stated.

"Thanks Abby. Now we got at least one face to watch for," Gibbs said staring at the picture of the assassin.

"Golden heart poisoning, huh? That's some really nasty voodoo in that plant. You're lucky they caught it before you ate it Alex...Which I'm curious: How did you know it was poisoned?" Abby asked obliviously.

Gibbs inwardly groaned. No one had informed Abby about what had happened to Jack Starbright. She always said she wasn't told anything down here, and now was a perfect example.

"Abby, it wasn't Alex, Eric was going after. It was his guardian, Jack Starbright. She ate the poisoned salad and is now in a coma," Gibbs said softly. "_There. Quick, like a band aid_." He thought to himself.

Abby eyes went wide as she stared at Gibbs and gasped. She then turned around to Alex who was staring at the picture of Eric Yokov intently.

"I am so sorry! Man I really put my foot in it. You must be crushed!" Abby exclaimed as she ran up to Alex and pulled him into a massive hug.

Alex was momentarily taken aback. He had known this woman for less than ten minutes and here they were hugging not just for the first time, but the second!

"Well I think my ribs are," Alex said referring to the hug, smiling slightly. He had too. This girl was just plain hyper.

"Abby's a hugger," Gibbs said watching the scene, looking amused. Abby bonded easily with just about anybody.

"Sorry....Again," Abby apologized letting him go but still looking intently at Alex. She looked on the verge of tears.

"It's okay Abby. You didn't know, and it's not like it was a secret or anything. And you're not the one that did this," Alex said looking pointedly at the man on the TV screen.

"Are you okay? Where are you going to stay?" Abby asked, but looked to Gibbs for the answers.

" We've got everything covered, Abby. He's staying with me," Gibbs answered.

"Wow! Your first day and you're already staying at the Bossman's house? He must really like you," Abby said smiling at Alex.

"He's barely known me a day," Alex said to her.

She was about to reply when her phone rang.

She answered with a "Abby's lab."

Then she held the phone out to Gibbs, "It's the Director. He wants to speak with you."

Gibbs looked at the phone for a few seconds then grabbed it and answered with the usual "Yeah? Gibbs?"

Then he listened for a few moments then hung up the phone.

"I gotta go up to MTAC for a few. Alex, you stay here with Abby until I get back. Abby if you need me you know the number. And you know what? While you're at it give it to Alex so he'll have it on him. Just in case," Gibbs said walking out of the lab.

"You got it Bossman!" Abby said with a salute.

"So it looks like it's just you and me now," Abby replied, smiling. Alex had a feeling that the smile didn't leave her face often.

**A/N- Hope you all liked Abby! Good news Sheluby94dreamer is my new Beta reader! So now my chapters will be extra good! And she helped a lot with Abby cause Abby's not my strong point (even though she's my favorite).**

**Thanks Sheluby94dreamer!**

**Reviews rock!**


	5. Chapter 5

Gibbs walked into MTAC just as Vance was pulling off his headset.

"I just got through with talking to the head of the CIA. Byrne or something. Do you know why he called?" Vance asked glaring.

Gibbs shrugged, staring back at Vance.

"Don't give me that crap. I know, you know Mcgee and Abby hacked into the CIA database to get information on a Russian by the name of EricYukov," Vance said looking even more madder with every word he said to Gibbs.

"It was information we needed to keep Alex safe," Gibbs said simply.

"Yeah, well you're lucky the CIA knows Alex and knows he's under our protection. Otherwise you'd be minus a field agent and a forensic analyst right now. The CIA's gonna let this slide...This time. They're willing to help keep Alex safe. But they insist next time you need information,you ASK. And they said they'll see what they can do," Vance said.

"We'll keep that in mind," Gibbs said turning to leave.

"You do that Gibbs," Vance warned as Gibbs walked out.

**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER***

_-In the lab-_

"What? You're a Silver Chair fan? No way!" Abby exclaimed. This was just one of the many questions Abby had asked since Gibbs left Alex with her.

"What's your favorite song sung by them?" She asked.

"Pure Massacre," Alex replied.

Abby was about to reply when Alex's phone went off. He pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. It was a text message from Tom Harris. He was about to open it up and look at it when Abby spoke up.

"Uhh, do you think that's a good idea? I mean can't SCORPIA track your phone, Alex?"

Alex smiled, " They could if this was a regular phone. The gadget maker of MI6 is sort of a friend of mine, he thought I would like to keep in touch with Tom Harris, my friend that knows I'm a spy, while I was under protection so he gave me this phone. No one but MI6 can track this phone. Mr. Smithers made sure of that."

Abby's eyes lit up, "Gadget-maker? You mean as in like real high-tech gadgets? That's awesome! Does it blow stuff up like in the new James Bond movies?"

Alex's smile widened at Abby's enthusiasm, " Yeah, actually it does. If I hit 1496 it sends out a distress signal out to MI6. And there 'supposed' to let NCIS know that the distress signal has been activated and track the signal," Alex said emphasizing the 'supposed'. The last time he had been given a distress signal MI6 ignored it. And Alex wasn't holding his breath this time.

Abby noticed this and patted Alex's back, "Alex, Gibbs is looking out for you. And if Gibbs is looking after you, you have nothing to worry about."

"Thanks, Abby," Alex said opening his phone and looking at the text.

**Hey Al' How's it going with the protection detail you got going on in America? Hope it's not the SAS all over again. Hurry up and text me back and let me know you're not dead.**

Alex smiled grimly at his phone. He would love to be in London with Tom helping him look for girls, and giving him his mandatory pep talk when they shot him down.

"That your girlfriend?" Abby asked seeing Alex's smile.

"Well I'd certainly hope not. It's from Tom actually," Alex replied.

"Sounds like a good friend, Alex," Gibbs replied as he appeared out of nowhere.

"You and Mcgee are losing your touch," He replied as he turned to Abby.

"What are you talking about?" Abby asked.

"The CIA knows you hacked them."

"What?! There's no way we left a trail!" Abby said, then not even waiting on an answer she turned around and hit a speed dial button on her lab phone.

Then she screamed into it, "Mcgee get down here!"

"Abby I'm taking Alex home now. He's had a pretty long day," Gibbs said noticing Alex was trying to stifle a yawn.

Abby ran up and gave Gibbs a quick hug and then Alex and replied, "Goodnight! I'll see you tomorrow, Alex!"

**Alex Rider* NCIS*Alex Rider*NCIS*Alex Rider* NCIS* Alex Rider* NCIS* Alex Rider* **

When they arrived to Gibbs' house Alex was completely exhausted.

Gibbs had Alex's luggage brought to NCIS from his apartment so they could take it to his house.

He helped Alex bring his stuff up to the spare bedroom.

"Are you hungry? I'm pretty sure theirs some leftovers in the fridge," Gibbs said leaning against the door frame, watching Alex unpack some pajamas to sleep in.

"No, thanks. It's been a pretty long day. I think I'm just gonna go to bed," Alex replied eyeing the comfortable looking bed.

Gibbs nodded his head, " Okay I'll be in the basement if you need me."

And with that he walked out, closing the door behind him.

Alex quickly undressed and got into his pajama bottoms, then started to pull on a loose fitting T-shirt, but thought better of it. It was really warm in the room.

Then he crawled into bed and pulled the covers up above his bare chest and fell into a restless slumber.

**Alex Rider* NCIS*Alex Rider*NCIS*Alex Rider* NCIS* Alex Rider* NCIS* Alex Rider***

Alex had went to bed pretty early so that left Gibbs with a lot of time to work on his boat.

He glanced at his watch it read, 1:15 AM so he decided to call it a night, and headed upstairs.

Cutting off all the lights as he went he went up the stairs and headed for his bedroom, but stopped short when he reached Alex's room.

He heard groaning, whimpering almost, coming from Alex's room.

He threw open the door, switched on a lamp by a table, and he saw Alex tossing and turning in his bed.

Alex had a pained expression on his face, and he had broken out in a cold sweat.

The boy tossed again, throwing the blankets off of him as he did, exposing his bare chest to Gibbs. And Gibbs saw the nasty scar on the teenagers chest just above his heart. Gibbs also noted all the other various scars, also one or two bruises that were barely there anymore but Gibbs, being the trained investigator that he is, saw the slight discoloration on the skin.

Alex's breathe was coming in short bursts now, so Gibbs quickly went over and sat on the edge of the sleeping boys bed and shook him gently, "Alex.... Alex come on, wake up."

Alex's eyes snapped open and he sat up, breathing hard, looking pale and disoriented.

"Hey come on now, calm down. You were just having a nightmare. It's over now just relax," Gibbs comforted, much like he did with Kelly when she had a nightmare.

Alex looked at Gibbs for a moment, then finally understanding where he was, he said, " I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"I wasn't asleep. Are you okay? You look real pale. Do you feel nauseous" Gibbs asked sounding concerned.

Alex shook his head, his thoughts going over the dream he just had.

It had went from seeing Sarov kill himself to Yassen dying on Air Force One. But the worst part had been the end.

He was watching a man and woman boarding a plane. He could also see another man waving to the couple at a distance. It was Ash! And the couple was his parents.

He saw his mothers beautiful blonde hair blowing in the wind, as his father slid his hand around her waist as he led her into the plane. They were both smiling at one another, oblivious to what was about to happen. The doors closed and the plane started moving.

Alex took off after the plane, he had to stop it, somehow he had to stop that plane and get his parent to safety. The last thing he saw before he woke up was the plane, with his parents aboard, blow up.

"Come on Alex. Let me make you some tea. It'll help you sleep better," Gibbs said snapping Alex of his thoughts. The dream had obviously shook him up.

Alex nodded and slowly got out of bed. Then suddenly he noticed he wasn't wearing his night shirt, so he grabbed the T-shirt and quickly slipped it on, before following Gibbs down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

Alex sat at the table, while Gibbs made the tea for Alex. And some coffee for himself.

They kept silent until Gibbs sat down at the table across from Alex, handing him the cup of tea while sipping his coffee.

Alex took the tea and sipped it also.

"You wanna talk about it?" Gibbs asked already knowing the answer.

And as he predicted, Alex shook his head and replied, "No, I'm fine, really."

Gibbs knew this wouldn't be easy, but he was suddenly struck by a thought.

"My daughter, Kelly,used to have nightmares a lot. And every night she did I'd bring her down here, just like we're doing now, except she preferred hot chocolate instead of tea. And after she talked it out she felt a lot better and was finally able to get back to sleep."

"I didn't know you had a daughter," Alex said quietly.

"That's because she died in a car crash, along with her mother Shannon," Gibbs replied, Unable to keep the sadness out of her voice. Every time he said it, it hurt. But he figured if he opened up to Alex, he would do the same.

"Whoa.... I'm really sorry," Alex replied stunned.

"Don't worry about it," Gibbs replied taking another swig of coffee.

They were silent for a few more minutes, before Gibbs asked, " So do you wanna talk bout your dream? What ever we talk about,Alex, Will stay between me and you. You have my word."

"I....It's nothing. I just had a dream about my parents and their...plane crash," Alex replied, giving in. He felt that he could trust Gibbs with that little information, even though it was only the half truth. He purposely left out Ash, and the fact that that it wasn't exactly a plane 'crash' that had killed his parents, but a plane 'bombing'.

"I had dreams about Shannon and Kelly's death for awhile, I even still do some times. And their not easy. So I guess I can relate to that.," Gibbs admitted.

Alex nodded and said, " Thanks Gibbs." And even though he said very little, he actually felt better that he talked to Gibbs about his dream. And he felt that he could talk to Gibbs, like he talked to Jack. But when he talked to Jack about this kind of stuff he had to watch what he said because he knew she would get upset about it. So he left out the really bad stuff, and most of the time the stuff he couldn't talk about was what was really bothering him.

But he felt that Gibbs could handle it, and understand him.

"Let's go back upstairs and try to get what sleep we can before we go into NCIS. We'll get up at 0700. Which will give us a good seven hours," Gibbs reported getting up and putting his coffee mug in the sink .

Alex stood and followed suit, up the stairs and headed to his bedroom. Gibbs' bedroom was right across the hall from Alex's room.

Before Gibbs retired to his own room he made sure Alex's door was open as well as his own, in case Alex needed him.

**A/N- well I hope you all liked this one! I've already kinda started the next chapter so maybe I can get the next chapter up sooner.**

**And a special thanks to Sheluby94dreamer for Beta-ing for me. Always has the little and big things that makes the story so much better.**

**I love Reviews!and I'm now trying to get around to replying to all of them!**


	6. Chapter 6

"You've picked what we ate for lunch for the last week, Ziva!" Tony said.

Alex was sitting at Gibbs' desk, watching the teams bickering like a tennis match, his head turning from one person to another.

"Yes, because every time you pick what we eat I end up eating a sloppy Jim, which has more grease and fat in it than I can stand!" Ziva replied.

"Joe," Tony and Mcgee corrected automatically.

"What does the Janitor have to do with this?" Ziva asked oblivious to her mistake.

"It's a Sloppy Joe. Not Jim." Mcgee replied.

Considering Alex had lived with an American for most of his life, he was familiar with both American foods, and sayings. When Jack first moved in he spent the first month eating his far share of American food and getting confused by Jack's American slang.

"Okay you know what we'll compromise; Alex you pick where we eat," Tony decided.

"Me? I ate eggs and bacon at Gibbs' place. So I'm not that hungry," Alex explained.

"Hmm...Gibbs made breakfast, huh? When I stayed with him he only gave me toast on the way out of the house," Tony mumbled, half to himself.

"We'll if you were eating, where would you want to go?" Mcgee asked impatiently, he hadn't ate breakfast and was tired of his teammates bickering.

"Yes, you can't pick anything worse than, Tony," Ziva assured.

Alex thought for a moment then, " Well is there a good Thai restaurant around here?"

Ziva smiled, " I haven't had Thai in a long time."

Tony nodded in agreement, " Thai it is then! You wanna come, Alex? They don't deliver so we'll have to go get it. Plus you've been in the building all day. Come get some fresh air," Tony urged.

Alex nodded, and replied, " Sure."

"Good. Now all we gotta do is OK it with Gibbs," Tony said standing up as well as Alex.

"Clear what with me, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, strolling into the bullpen, with a coffee in his hand.

"Alex and I are gonna go get lunch, Boss. What can we get you?" Tony said.

"I don't know DiNozzo," Gibbs said eyeing Alex.

"Don't worry Gibbs, I'm sure Tony isn't your Senior Field Agent for nothing," Alex assured.

"Yeah, don't worry Gibbs I'm not gonna lose him," Tony joked, but as he put his coat on he slid his 9mm into his shoulder holster.

_"Just in case,"_ he thought.

Gibbs thought hard about this looking at Alex intently.

"Alright, but before you leave take this," Gibbs said as he went over to his desk and opened the drawer containing his gun. He took it out, loaded it, and handed it to Alex, " You know how to shoot this?"

"Uhh, yeah," Alex said taking it, and the shoulder holster Gibbs had just given him.

"Good. Now I'll trust that you have good enough judgment to know when and if to use it, since you've worked with a gun before. This is just as a precaution," Gibbs explained, "And once you get back I'll take you to see Jack."

"Thanks, Gibbs," Alex said gratefully.

Tony and Alex went to leave but Gibbs caught Tony on the shoulder, "Be careful, DiNozzo."

"Don't worry Boss, I got Alex's six," Tony replied and went to catch the elevator with Alex.

Gibbs smirked as the last thing he heard before the elevator doors closed was Tony ask, "So how big of a movie fan are you, Alex?"

**NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS**

"No way! James Bond is way better than Jason Bourne," Tony said as he drove to the Thai restaurant, with Alex riding shotgun.(1)

"Jason Bourne is a more believable character than, Bond," Alex argued.

"Yeah, but Bond gets all the girls," Tony said with a smile, while looking for a safe place to park as they reached the restaurant, "Why is there never any place to park around here?" Tony asked incredulously.

They ended up having to park half a block away from the Thai restaurant.

"Unbelievable,"Tony muttered as they got out and walked.

There was a pause as they made their way down the street. It was not very crowded.

"So what's Jack like?" Tony asked, suddenly.

"Jack's great. She's always happy. There has to be something seriously wrong if she gets mad. Her rarely leaves her face. You know now that I think about it I bet her and Abby would get along good," Alex said thoughtfully.

Tony seemed to absorb what Alex had said then asked, " So is she single? I mean no boyfriend back in England?"

Alex looked at Tony and laughed, "Are you seriously gonna hit on Jack while she's in a coma?"

"What? No! I was just, uh, curious," Tony replied backtracking.

"Hey, like I said Jack's great. And if she gets out of this, and you think you have a chance with her, go for it," Alex replied still smirking.

Tony noticed Alex say _if_ instead of _when_, " Well _when_ Jack gets out of this do you think you could put in a good word for me?"

"Sorry Tony, I'm not allowed to help Jack get or lose dates. The last time I tried to help Jack with a date, the man ended up with a worm in his spaghetti and and four frogs were let loose in his car," Alex said still smirking.

"You did that? Why?" Tony asked.

"Well first of all it was my friend Toms' idea. Secondly, we were both eleven. And thirdly, he was a cheating on her, he always had a cell and got phone calls from a girl named Victoria...Or something like that. And besides that he made it a habit of calling me and Tom brat behind Jack and my uncle's back," Alex replied.

"Whoa. And just how mad was Jack when she found out," Tony asked as they approached the restaurant, then entered and got in line.

"Well she was furious with Tom and me. I remember sitting on our couch watching her pace in front of us, ranting, until she finally stopped so we could explained why we did it. Then she apologized, hugged us, and called the man up and let _him_ have it. Then when he quit answering her phone calls she started leaving nasty voice mails. Then Ian stepped in and said the man had suffered enough. I mean the man did bite a worm in half. Ian kept laughing the whole time, I think he got a kick out of it," Alex said.

Tony laughed and said, "I'm sure."

The line was pretty short, so they got their food pretty quickly, and headed back to the car.

They were halfway to the car when Tony felt Alex stiffen beside him, "We're being followed," Alex said not quickening or slowing his pace, noticing that this was the third time he had saw a man in a black leather jacket, holding a phone to his ear, casting short glances at Alex and Tony.

"We can't chance making it to the car. There's an alley coming up on your right when I say now, you take it and run like hell. I'm right behind you," Tony ordered, his voice becoming totally serious now.

As soon as they approached the big alley way Tony yelled, "Now!," And in one swift movement he dropped the bag of food, had his gun drawn, and was running right behind Alex.

Alex, also had his gun drawn, dropping his bag of food.

As he was running he heard shouting coming from behind him. He chanced a glance behind him and immediately regretted it, he saw three men running toward them with their own guns drawn, taking aim.

The end of the alley way was blocked by a high chain-linked fence. They were having to avoid all sorts of huge debris that in the alley.

As they approached a dumpster on the right, shots started to ring out, and Tony pulled Alex behind it, crouching, behind the over filled dumpster for cover.

Tony went to the edge of the dumpster and started shooting back.

Unfortunately there was a lot of good cover, not only for Alex and Tony but for the gunmen. One was behind a thick wooden box and the other two were also behind a dumpster.

Tony let off more shots before he came back around to reload, then he tossed Alex his cell phone, "Well as much fun as this is, I'm gonna have to ask you to call Gibbs. I only have four rounds . You still got Gibbs' gun?" Tony asked over the spray of bullets that pelted the dumpster.

Alex nodded taking the phone, and holding up the gun.

"Okay, you keep that and the round that's in it, in case you need it. You just worry about calling Gibbs I don't want you shooting that gun at someone unless you need to," Tony said turning back to the side of the dumpster and started shooting back at the gunmen.

Alex mentally cursed himself for not bringing his own mobile, which was conveniently left sitting on Gibbs desk.

Alex opened Tony's phone and dialed Gibbs' number. It rang twice then, "Gibbs."

"Gibbs, it's Alex, me and Tony are in an alleyway being shot at," Alex said giving what information he could. Which wasn't much since he didn't know Washington, or any of its street names.

"Alex do not hang up. Mcgee is tracing the call," Then he heard Mcgee's muffled voice, " scratch that we're on our way."

Then the line went dead, and Alex noticed something else. Silence. No one was shooting.

"What's going on?" Alex whispered as he moved closer to Tony.

Tony was about to reply , but he got cut off, "Alex Rider! Come out now! And we might let your little NCIS agent walk out of here alive. Our problem is with you not with a measly little Navy cop," said one of the gunmen, with a Russian accent, presumably Eric Yokov.

"Uhh, sorry, NCIS doesn't negotiate with criminals, terrorists, or creepy weird dudes that shoot at us in alleys," Tony called back.

"This isn't a negotiation, it's a demand. A demand we will get by force if we have to." He said, and as if to make a point he shot off another shot at Tony, who had his shoulder sticking out a bit too far , trying to get a better angle to shoot.

Unfortunately, Tony couldn't move fast enough and the bullet embedded itself into Tony's shoulder.

Tony dropped his gun, mumbling curses, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

Alex quickly pulled Tony farther behind the dumpster, shrugged off his jacket, balled it up, and put it to Tony's shoulder, applying pressure on the wound.

Tony groaned, but didn't say anything, knowing that the pressure was helping him.

"Man this suit costs' a fortune," Tony said through gritted teeth.

"Hang on, Tony. Gibbs is on his way," Alex said peeking out from behind the dumpster. There was no movement or sounds on the other side of the alley, which made Alex uneasy.

Alex gripped the gun harder and went back to Tony who was slumped against the dumpster, putting pressure on his shoulder. Alex grabbed the bloody jacket and took back over with applying pressure.

"Don't worry, Alex. I'm like the Terminator, I keep coming back.," Tony said as he noticed Alex's worried glance, " Get back over there and don't let those pansies get any closer until Gibbs gets here."

Tony brought his hand back up to his shoulder and took back over.

Alex reluctantly let go, listened to Tony, and moved back to the edge of the dumpster, gripping Gibbs' gun harder with his now blood-soaked hands.

Alex barely peeked around the corner of the dumpster, when a boot collided with the side of his head.

Alex fell back, onto the ground, sending the gun flying, landing near Tony.

Eric grabbed Alex by the front of the shirt, and hauled him to his feet. Alex, even though he was still seeing spots, started struggling.

Eric, still holding Alex shirt punched him hard in the stomach. Alex groaned painfully, and slowing lifted his head, glaring daggers into Eric's eyes.

"It's time for you to pay for what you did to SCORPIA, Alex Rider," He said as he brought out a syringe, full of clear liquid, presumably drugs so he could get away with Alex easier.

Tony was already shakily on his feet, swaying slightly from the blood loss but what gave Alex some hope was that he was holding the gun he dropped, pointing it at Eric, though his aim was kinda off.

"Let him go, Yokov. He's just a kid," Tony said panting, but his voice was firm.

Alex took advantage of the fact that Eric's attention was somewhat on Tony now, and brought his knee expertly into Eric's groin. Eric let go of both the syringe and Alex's shirt. Alex backed up to the chain-linked fence and took a fighting stance, ready for anything.

Suddenly he heard tires screeching to a halt, more gunshots, and then running foot steps coming down the alley. One of the SCORPIA agents came up and scaled the fence, "They called backup," He called out to Eric.

Eric swore in Russian, " This isn't over, Rider. These Navy cops can't keep you safe forever," he sneered.

Then he shoved Alex out of the way, and scaled the fence himself, disappearing.

Unfortunately, Alex didn't see this, when he was shoved he lost his balance, and his head collided with the side of the dumpster. Knocking him unconscious.

**ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS**

Alex heard muffled talking. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but one voice he thought he recognized as Gibbs.

His head hurt a lot, but after a few moments, his hearing cleared.

"Their both very lucky we got there when we did." He heard Ducky say.

"Too bad we let two of them escape," Gibbs replied.

"Yes, but Ziva did manage to shoot one of them. That's one less for everyone to worry about," Ducky reasoned.

Alex opened his eyes and looked around, _"Great,"_ he thought, "_ I'm in a hospital."_

Ducky noticed that he was awake, "Ah, it's about time you woke up, dear boy. That was quite a knock to the cranium you had. Now tell me, do you feel nauseous?" Ducky asked.

Alex didn't feel up to talking just yet so he shook his head no.

Ducky grabbed a penlight from his pocket and shined it into Alex's eyes, watching his pupils contract.

Alex suddenly remembered Tony and his bloody shoulder, "Wait, how's Tony?"

"Anthony will be fine. Luckily the bullet didn't his anything vital. They got the bullet, and now they're bandaging him up. He's not even being detained for a night," Ducky explained.  
"What, exactly happened?" Alex asked, his memory was still fuzzy.

"There was a gun fight, you and Tony were pinned down until we got there. We managed to take one of them down, but Eric and the other SCORPIA agent got away. When we got there we found a syringe full of drugs, laying on the ground," Gibbs explained.

"With enough drugs in it to knock you out for quite some time, I might add," Ducky chimed in.

Alex thought for awhile then said, " Tony had a gun on Eric when he was about to give me the drugs. I guess that's what stopped him. Or what made him falter. And then you guys showed up," Alex said remembering that part.

"Yeah, underneath all the jokes and movies DiNozzo's a fine agent," Gibbs praised proudly of his agent, " But I should've known better than too send you out with Tony by yourself, even with a gun. Tony draws trouble like a magnet and it seems that you do too."

" So do I have to stay here overnight?" Alex asked, looking at the clock hanging on the wall, it read 4:30 PM.

"No, you're free to go. They're prescribing you some painkillers to take if needed, but if you start feel nauseous, or dizzy you alert Gibbs. Other than that you should be fine, dear boy," Ducky answered.

"Thanks Ducky," Alex replied, getting up so he could retrieve his shoes.

"You're most welcome," Ducky said and went to go get the doctor so Alex and Gibbs' could leave.

When Ducky left, Gibbs' phone went off, "Gibbs," he answered.

Gibbs listened for awhile then, " Leon, do you really expect my team to juggle two assignments right now? DiNozzo's Already hurt, And we're supposed to be on protection detail for Alex."

_"I understand that Gibbs but all you're really doing is babysitting a spy. And that's only second on your to-do list. Now this case has come up and it requires a special team. You're that team. And who knows Alex might like to see what you guys do at work all da_y," Vance was saying, then the line went dead.

Gibbs was steaming, but he looked at Alex and asked, " So, Alex have you ever been to a crime scene before?"


	7. Chapter 7

"_So, Alex have you ever been to a crime scene?"_

"No, but I've caused quite a few of them," Alex said as he and Gibbs walked out of the emergency room and into the hall.

"Well today's your lucky day, we got a new case. And according to our Director, my team's the only one qualified for the job. Do you feel up to it? Or do you want me to assign someone to take you home?" Gibbs asked reluctantly, not really wanting Alex out of his sight again considering what had happened.

"No I'm okay," Alex replied truthfully, the dull ache in his head already nearly gone.

"Okay, I gotta call Mcgee and get the location of the crime scene," he spotted Ducky walking with another Doctor, " why don't you go talk to him while I get the address?" Gibbs said as he got his phone out.

Alex nodded and went over to where Ducky was, Ducky smiled when he saw him, then motioned him to come to him.

"Alex, this is Frank Hampton, the doctor that looked you over while you were unconscious. What's Gibbs doing? Doctor Hampton has the forms he needs to sign to check you out," Ducky explained.

"He had to call Mcgee," Alex explained as he saw Gibbs shut his phone and walk up to the Alex and the two Doctors.

Doctor Hampton explained which forms Gibbs needed to sign and handed Gibbs the forms, but he then looked pointedly at Alex with a some what guilty look on his face.

"I wanted to apologize, Mr. Rider. Now normally I like to be there when my patients wake up, But we've been really busy today, and I've known Ducky for years, and I knew you were in very capable hands," He said.

Alex smiled, "Don't worry, doctor I understand," Alex assured him as Gibbs handed Doctor Hampton back the signed forms.

"In any case I am prescribing some painkillers, if you wind up needing them," the Doctor said handing Gibbs he prescription.

"Thanks, Doc. Ducky we got a case, Palmer's bringing the truck, you can hitch a ride with me and Alex," Gibbs said stuffing the prescription in his pocket and bringing out his car keys.

"A case? Don't you think that's spreading your team a little thin, Gibbs? I mean you're practically short an agent, what, with Anthony's arm being in a sling," Ducky asked as he and Alex started walking toward the exit door of the hospital.

"Yeah, well the Director seems to think that this was a excellent idea," was all Gibbs replied back.

Once they approached the dark blue Dodge Charger, They climbed in,Gibbs driving, with Ducky riding in the passenger seat, and Alex slid into the back seat. Gibbs whipped out of the parking lot, and headed for the crime scene. Ducky then started talking to Gibbs about an upcoming medical convention, to which Gibbs looked like he was only half listening. But Ducky either didn't seem to care or he didn't notice;Alex couldn't decide which scenario it was.

Alex rested his head against the window, and took in the scenery. Before he knew it they were pulling into a driveway with a beautiful house-well without the crime scene tape, and NCIS agents everywhere.

Gibbs, Ducky and Alex stepped out of the car and headed toward the big black, blue, and white NCIS van, where the team was grouping.

Gibbs and Ducky went over and started putting on their NCIS jackets, hats, and latex gloves, and in Ducky's case a NCIS coroners jumpsuit.

"What have we got?" Gibbs asked straightforwardly.

"Two beaten marines found in the house, by the name of Jason Moore and Steve Payton. Payton's dead, and Moore's on his way to the hospital. But the paramedics said it didn't look too good," Ziva reported.

"Who found them?" Gibbs asked.

"Payton's girlfriend. She walked in on the man beating them, she's okay just got a knock to the head,the paramedics cleared her though, no concussion. She's sitting in the police car, but she's pretty shook up, Boss," Mcgee warned.

"Name?" Gibbs asked.

"Sarah Sommers," Mcgee replied.

Gibbs nodded, "Alright, get to work. I'm gonna go talk to Ms. Sommers, then I'll be back to help. Did DiNozzo go home?" Gibbs asked noticing he had yet to see his Senior field agent.

Mcgee shook his head, " The Doctor tried to tell him to go home and get some rest, but he refused. Imagine that. He's sitting in the front seat of the van, supposedly looking through his notes."

Gibbs nodded, " Yeah, that sounds about like DiNozzo."

Gibbs grabbed a camera and started walking toward the front of the van motioning Alex to follow suit.

They found Tony sitting with his head leaning against the back of the seat, eyes closed.

"DiNozzo what good are you if you're passed out?" Gibbs asked loudly causing Tony to jump, wincing as the sudden movement made him jar his shoulder, which was now in a sling.

"I'm good, Boss. Just resting my eyes," Tony tried.

"Well I know trying to get you to go home will be a waste of time. So do you think you could at least work the camera, with one arm?" Gibbs asked handing the camera to Tony.

"Of course," Tony said taking it and started walking toward the house, but Alex stopped him.

"Look, Tony I wanted to apologize for what happened," he said.

"Why? Were you the one who shot me?" Tony asked, with mock confusion.

"I might as well have. You got shot looking after me," Alex said looking guiltily at Tony's shoulder.

"Alex, it's my _job_ to be looking after you. This is by no means your fault. And besides that I've had a lot worse," Tony replied, refusing to let any fourteen year old think that he was the cause of anything that happened like that.

Gibbs smirked at that, " He's not lying."

All Tony did was smile hugely, pat Alex on the shoulder with his good arm and walk off toward the house.

"Come on Alex, we need to talk to Ms. Sommers," Gibbs said ushering Alex to follow him.

As they neared the police car, they could hear the soft cry coming from the open door of the back seat.

Gibbs stood in front of the woman and introduced himself, but Alex stayed a few paces behind giving Gibbs and the weeping lady some privacy, but he could still hear Gibbs and Ms. Sommers' conversation.

I'm Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. Do you mind if I ask you some questions, Ms. Sommers?" He asked softly.

She nodded and said weakly, " You can call me Sarah."

Sarah had shoulder length hair, strawberry blonde hair, with bright blue eyes, and even though she had been crying and her make-up was running, she was still beautiful.

"I know this is kinda hard but how close were Steve and Jason?" Gibbs asked gently.

"They were best friends ever since high school. They did everything together, they even enlisted in the marines at the same time. When I first started dating Steve he made it clear that if I took him it would mean taking Jason to," Sarah said with a small smile.

"And you were okay with that?" Gibbs asked.

"Of course. Jason is great, he's like a brother to me. When Steve had to go to base for a few days, some one broke into my house I called Jason all upset and he came over there that night, and slept on the couch so I could get some sleep," Sarah replied.

"My agent said you saw the man beating Steve and Jason. Was he wearing a mask?" Gibbs coaxed gently, knowing that this was gonna be a sensitive subject, but he had to get the answers sooner or later.

"No he wasn't wearing a mask, I walked in and he saw me, then he ran over and pushed me into a wall and ran out the door. I hit my head on the wall on the way down and got knocked unconscious. When I woke up I just assumed they were badly beaten....I...didn't think that.....,"Sarah tried to finish but couldn't.

Gibbs gave her time to regain her composure then, "Sarah we're gonna need to take you to NCIS, so you can describe the man to our sketch artist. And maybe ask you some more questions, do you think you can do that?"

Sarah nodded firmly, "Absolutely. I'll do anything to help."

"Good, you sit tight,and once we're done I'll come back and take you to NCIS," Gibbs said and patted Sarah on the shoulder, then motioned for Alex to follow him once more.

They walked slowly up to the house, but when they reached the steps Gibbs turned abruptly and stood in front of Alex.

"Alex why don't you go wait by the van? At least until get they get the body out of here," Gibbs suggested, not wanting to horrify Alex.

But Alex just smiled grimly, " Gibbs I've seen dead bodies before." '_Seen them....Saw them die...Same difference,' _Alex thought silently.

Once again Gibbs studied Alex's face hard, "Are you sure, Alex? I haven't seen the body yet, but on our cases their never pretty."

"What dead body is?" Alex challenged.

Gibbs smirked again, "Okay fair enough, but if it gets to rough for you, you can always walk out and wait outside. Oh, and here put these one," Gibbs handed him two latex gloves, "rule number two. Always wear gloves to a crime scene."

"Rule number two?" Alex asked as he slid the gloves on.

"Rules my team goes by. You'll probably learn quite a few of them, while you're hear," Gibbs said, "and this is a crime scene so don't touch anything unless someone okay's it, got it?"

Alex nodded and followed Gibbs into the house.

The whole place was completely trashed. No table, or chair was turned upright, there was glass everywhere. But a they went into the sitting room, it was the worst part of the house, not only were glass and upturned furniture, but blood stained hand prints, and pools of it had soaked into the white carpet.

Alex's gaze then fell on the dead body, laid out on the floor, facing up.

What parts of Steve Payton's body, that wasn't covered up by ripped clothing was bruised and bloody. And Alex knew enough to know that once the body is dead it doesn't bruise. So Steve and Jason must've put up a fight for awhile for him to still have time to bruise.

Ducky, then came up to the body and kneeled down beside it. He then took out a long probe, lifted up Steve's shirt,and much to Alex's dismay, stuck it deep into the corpses lower torso.

Mcgee who was standing nearby with an evidence bag, dropping a cell phone into it, noticed Alex's shocked face.

He nudged Alex, "Yeah, it kinda freaked me out the first time I saw it too."

"What's he doing?" Alex asked.

"That thing's called a Liver probe, and by the name I guess you know where it goes. But it give us a more accurate time of death. Not that we really need it now but it'll help Ducky with the coroners report," Mcgee explained.

"Oh," was all Alex could think of to reply.

He took his eyes off the body and looked around what was left of the room, careful not to step on anything that could be important. Not that he knew what was important and what wasn't.

Alex heard a frustrated growl followed by, "Tony!"

Alex turned to see Tony, who was currently looking and taking a picture of Ziva's butt, as she was bent over to pick up a receipt from a diner that was on the floor after she had taken a photo of it.

"What? My finger slipped," Tony replied innocently.

"Are they always like that?" Alex asked Mcgee. This wasn't the first time Alex had seen Tony and Ziva amuse him with their bickering.

"You haven't seen nothing yet, Alex," Mcgee said gravely. And Alex definitely believed it.

He felt out of place watching the team work. There wasn't really anything he could do but watch so he mostly stood near the far side of the wall and watched them work. After another hour and a half of them taking pictures of stuff and putting various items in evidence bags to take to Abby, they packed their gear and evidence up and was ready to go back to NCIS to get started on the case.

"Alex you ride with the team back to NCIS. I've got to go get Sarah from the police car," Gibbs suggested.

Alex nodded and went over to Tony, Mcgee, and Ziva.

"There is no way you're driving, Ziva," Tony was saying.

"My driving has improved since the last time," Ziva objected.

Tony and Ziva stared at each other for a moment then, "Flip a coin?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded and Tony dug into his pockets looking for a coin.

"Probie, give me penny!" He ordered when he couldn't find one himself.

Mcgee rolled his eyes but fished into his pocket and produced a penny. Tony took it, "which do you want?" he asked.

"Tails," Ziva said immediately.

Tony nodded and flipped the coin, caught it, and looked at it. Mcgee and Ziva crowded around Tony.

Ziva looked very smug as she snatched the keys from Tony's hand as he asked, "Two out of three?"

**NCIS**ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS**

Alex, Tony, and Mcgee all filed silently into the bullpen holding their stomach, faces pale. Ziva was smiling, was taking up the rear.

"I said I was sorry, what more to you guys want?" Ziva said.

"Ziva, you came around a turn on _two_ wheels in a NCIS_ van. _Saying sorry does not suffice," Mcgee said going over to his desk sitting down.

"And running three red lights, narrowly missing oncoming traffic, and then all you say is 'oops?' You know we're supposed to be keeping Alex out of safe, not getting him hit by pick up trucks," Tony said, pulling up another chair by his desk for Alex.

The team fired up their computers and started getting information on both Steve Payton, and Jason Moore, while Alex engaged himself in a conversation with Tom on his cell phone.

**How's everything going in America, Alex?**

Not bad actually I've only been shot at once so far, and knocked unconscious once.

**Wow....Nice Alex. So what are the people that are looking after you like?**

Their actually not that bad. One of them is a bit like you actually, his name's Tony DiNozzo.

**Like me, huh? He must be a riot, then.**

Yeah, he is Mr. Modest. But I'm gonna go Gibbs just walked in (the boss).

**Oh, well we definitely don't want you to get into 'trouble.' And I'm sure you can hear the sarcasm all the way in America.**

"Mrs. Sommers gave us a good photo sketch of the man that attacked," Gibbs was saying, holding up the drawing of a man in his late 30's, balding.

"I got something Boss. Two weeks ago Steve found out that Luke Fulmer, a corporal that had recently been assigned to his unit, was on drugs and he reported it. Fulmer got a dishonorable discharge shortly after it. Needless to say Fulmer was not happy about it. Even threatened him about it at a local bar, which got him arrested, and I'm only guessing that made Fulmer even more angry," Mcgee read off his computer.

"And that would explain how he could take down two marines," Tony put in.

"Mcgee, find him then, you and David check it out," Gibbs said, looking at Alex who was watching Tony _attempt_ to type, and the fact that he had a shoulder out of commission was not helping in the least.

"Tony? Would you like some help there?" Alex asked, finally taking pity on the man.

"Huh?" Tony asked looking up at the teenager.

"Typing? Come on Tony at the rate you're going the case will get solved before you get done with whatever it is you're doing," Alex said, smiling gently.

"It's not that bad!" Tony said looking down at how far he had gotten in his research on Payton's girlfriend. Which wasn't much.

"Come on Tony let me help, watching you type is kinda painful. Just tell me what I need to type in, and this will go by a lot faster," Alex said already getting used to Tony. Tony was a prankster, Alex saw him put salt in Mcgee's coffee when he wasn't looking, on the way back up to the bullpen. And Tony also liked to tease people, both of which he saw Tom Harris do back in England. So he was pretty much used to it.

"Uhh....I don't know how..Uhh..Gibbs would feel about this, Alex," Tony said lowering his voice so Gibbs wouldn't hear.

"Come on, if I just sit here I'm gonna get bored. And trust me things to go so well when I get bored. You can ask Jack-" But Alex stopped abruptly at mentioning Jack.

Suddenly Gibbs got up and walked over to where Alex and Tony were talking quietly.

"DiNozzo, is Alex being here gonna be too much of a distraction for you? Or do I need to separate the two of you?"

"Absolutely not, Boss," Tony said and went back to his mediocre typing. Gibbs noticed this immediately.

"DiNozzo I know for a fact how bad your typing is, but this is pathetic. Alex you're a teenager, you should know how to type, help DiNozzo out, he's gonna need all the help he can get," Gibbs said, then said something about a coffee run.

Ziva,who had saw the entire scene play out, smiled smugly at Tony before grabbing her bag, and gun, then following Mcgee to the elevator, to get Luke Fulmer to bring him to NCIS, for questioning, leaving Tony and Alex to do their work.

**AN-Well I hope you liked this one. It might've been alittle bit boring because I'm just now getting the case rolling. But I tried to make up for the boring-ness by putting in some funny stuff. Lol or tried to make it funny.**

**And I have no idea if I put the Gibbs rule with the right number. I looked it up but sometimes the internet isn't always in sync with the show.**

**And a new special thanks to Psychowing for the use of the line "No but I've caused a few of them," Alex said. It was in one of the replies posted by Psychowing and I had liked it a lot so I put in in the story. Thanks a bunch!**

**And a thanks to my Beta reader, Sheluby94dreamer, for looking this over for me and making suggestions when needed.**

**Reviews inspire me!*hint* lol**


	8. Chapter 8

After a good fifteen minutes of Alex's typing and Tony taking down notes, they were finally done getting any important information on Sarah Sommers. And they made good timing, because twenty minutes later, Gibbs came strolling into the bullpen, coffee in hand throwing a, "What've you got?" Over his shoulder as he went over to his desk. Tony suddenly stood up and started his findings.

"Boss, Sarah Sommers is an heiress. Her father owns a lot of oil companies in Texas. He makes more money a week than I do in a month! She's never really been in a relationship long and this relationship she had with Payton is the longest she's ever had. Never been arrested, or even a ticket," Tony relayed.

Gibbs nodded and stood up, "Ziva and Mcgee hit heavy traffic bringing in Fulmer. Abby's still getting what she can from the evidence, and Ducky's not done with the autopsy on Payton. So we're-"

"Going to check on Moore's condition in the hospital," Tony finished., already getting his sig and NCIS badge.

_"Okay,"_ Alex thought, "_Either Tony's psychic, or Gibbs and his team spend WAY too much time together."_

**ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS***

Ziva was impatiently drumming her fingers on the console of the car as she watched the barely moving traffic in front of her.

"You know we would not be stuck in this if you would've let me drive," she huffed.

"No offense, Ziva. But I would much rather be stuck in traffic than have you drive," Mcgee relented.

Ziva rolled her eyes, "Yes, but if I would have drove we would have been back at NCIS before the traffic had even started."

Then, from the backseat Fulmer leaned in between the two agents, "Are you two gonna be arguing the whole way? I have a headache."

Ziva turned and gave him a deadly glare, " You are not in any position to complain _ex-_corporal. You are a suspect in an investigation."

Fulmer paled a little at that and began shaking slightly and asked, "Well could you at least cut up the heat a little bit? I've got the chills."

Ziva and Mcgee exchanged a look but shrug it off, maybe Fulmer was just getting a cold.

Fulmer then pulled out his iPod and put the ear buds in his ears and started listening.

They sat in silence for awhile until Mcgee, who had never liked silence, asked, " So what do you think of Alex?"

Ziva thought for a moment, "He's been through a lot. And if his mission were half of what mine were like at Mossad, then I think I know why."

"Sounds like you and Alex have quite a bit in common. You should talk to him. I doubt he knows you used to be a Mossad spy," Mcgee encouraged.

Ziva gave Mcgee a smile, "Maybe I will."

Then, they both gave a sigh of relief, as the traffic started moving once more.

**ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS***

Tony seemed to be feeling some what better as he sat in the passenger seat talking aimlessly about an old classic movie.

Soon they arrived at Bethesda, the same hospital Jack was being held at, but they started walking the opposite way of the elevators you took to get to Jacks room.

Gibbs must have noticed Alex's adversity because he nudged Alex's shoulder gently as they walked and assured, "Well go see her after we've checked on Moore."

Alex smiled and nodded gratefully.

As they arrived at the Nurses Station Tony shot forward.

"Hello, I'm special agent Anthony DiNozzo, from NCIS. We're here to check on a Marine named Jason Moore. And if possible talk with him," Tony said giving a flirtatious smile.

The pretty black-haired nurse in the purple scrubs smiled back, "He's right down this hall in room 203," she said as she pointed down a long hallway, "Actually there's his Doctor leaving his room now."

They nodded their thanks, but as they went to leave the nurse caught Tony's good arm and cried, "Wait! I almost forgot! Their was a younger lady by the name of Sarah Sommers here earlier. She made such a scene, we had to call security. She was extremely mad."

"She was in tears when she left NCIS, Boss. You think her mood changed that quick?" Tony asked.

Gibbs shrugged, "I've seen my three ex-wives do it plenty. You talk with her. I'm gonna go talk to the Doctor. Alex, keep an eye on DiNozzo. Make sure he _behaves_ himself around this lady."

Tony turned his attention back to the Nurse in the purple scrubs as soon as his Boss left, "What exactly did happen with Ms. Sommers, Nurse..." Tony trailed of realizing he didn't know her last name.

"Tyler. Terra Tyler," She finished for him as she flipped her hair in a alluring fashion, "She was demanding to see Moore. I told him he was sleeping and that visiting hours were over that she'd have to come back at the appropriate time. She then started cussing anything and everything worse than a sailor. And I should know, my father was in the Navy. Anyway a security guard finally came and escorted her out after she knocked over a cart with food on it for the patients."

Alex was finding it hard to imagine that soft-spoken woman he'd met a little while ago acting like that.

"Visiting hours are open now. Has been for two hours. Has she been back yet?" Tony asked.

"Not that I know of," Nurse Tyler replied.

"Well thank you for your help, Nurse Tyler," Tony said looking her up and down.

That's when her gaze fell on Alex with adoring eyes, "Your son is soo cute! I _love_ kids, I have a fourteen year old neice that I love hanging out with. What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Alex. But I'm not his son-," Alex started but Tony cut him off.

"That's right, Alex. We're more that father and son. We're best friends, isn't that right, son? We're like the boy version of the Gilmore Girls," Tony said, putting his un-injured arm around Alex, Giving him a one-armed hug.

"I-uh- noticed you weren't wearing a ring, Agent DiNozzo," She said suggestively, while Alex was looking at Tony like he was crazy.

"Yeah, she ran out of me and little Anthony Alex DiNozzo when he was still a toddler. I've been single ever sense. Dating was just too painful. But it gave me more time to spend with my precious child," Tony lied, sounding sad, but looking lovingly at Alex...While Alex still held the you-should-be-admitted-to-a-Psych-ward look.

Then, Tony's head snapped forward as Gibbs slapped the back of it.

"Hey, Boss," Tony greeted.

"If you're done, DiNozzo. Let's go," Gibbs said as he walked to the elevator.

Alex and Tony quickly followed, but not before Nurse Tyler wrote down her number for Tony, and ruffled Alex's hair before he could get away.

After they both entered the elevator and the doors closed Gibbs turned to Tony and asked incredulously, " Little Anthony Alex DiNozzo?"

Alex's chuckle echoed through the small elevator.

**ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS***

Alex's good mood was diminished as he walked into Jack's room and saw her lying in the hospital fighting for her life. But he didn't walk in alone. This time, Gibbs, Tony, along with Jacks doctor walked in with him.

"Mr. Rider, Jack is doing phenomenal. Her, blood pressure is back up and she's not relying on the ventilator as much anymore. If everything keeps going the way they are she should be awake in a matter of weeks," The doctor said clapping Alex on the back, as he watched Jacks chest rise and fall.

Though Alex's sad eyes lightened some as he heard the great news from the doctor.

"Really? That's great, thank you," He replied to the doctor as he was walking out. The doctor turned smiled at him and nodded before vacating the room.

"She really does look better. There's more color to her cheeks," Gibbs commented as he looked at her.

_"Kinda reminds me of Shannon, when she was Jack's age,"_ Gibbs thought silently.**(1)**

But Tony seemed to notice his hard gaze, knowing who the man was thinking of, "Yeah, the pink in her cheeks makes her hair all the more red."** (2)**

"Which usually indicates all the more fiery attitude, DiNozzo," Gibbs replied wisely with a smirk on his face.

Alex, could only simply nod his head knowingly in agreement as he smiled encouragingly at Jack. Praying, that she would wake up in time to meet this odd bunch of people.

**ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS***

"Are you alright there, Fulmer?" Mcgee asked, noticing his jittery movements in the small elevator, heading for the interrogation rooms, while Ziva visited the restroom. He also noticed the man was sweating badly, though he was holding himself like he was freezing, shivering slightly.

"I'm, o-okay," he replied stuttering.

But Mcgee didn't buy it, "You wouldn't happen to be going through withdrawals there, would you?"

"I-I d-don't know...what y-you're t-alking about," Fulmer all but shouted, giving Mcgee a murderous look.

Mcgee then started to reach discreetly for his cuffs before the man hurt himself...Or Mcgee. But as he did the elevator doors opened and Fulmer exploded.

He slammed Mcgee into the back wall of the elevator causing Mcgee's head to collide brutally against the metal. Then, just as Mcgee's vision was clearing some, Fulmer expertly punched the man in the jaw, sending Mcgee into unconsciousness before his body could even hit the ground.

Fulmer grabbed Mcgee's gun from its holster and went searching blindly for an exit.

**ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS*ALEX RIDER*NCIS***

Gibbs, Tony, and Alex left Jack's room a half an hour later, giving Alex enough time to spend with his unconscious friend.

They were now getting out of the car in the NCIS parking garage.

Walking toward one of the many doors to the building, Alex following slightly behind the two men.

At first all Alex heard was quickened walking. At first he wrote it off as an agent in a hurry to get to work.

But when the footsteps quickened and got closer, Alex glanced over his shoulder and saw a man with a gun loosely held in his right hand, heading toward them. Almost four feet away from Alex.

As he saw the man raise his gun, he stopped and turned around slowly.

Gibbs and Tony noticed Alex had stopped and they also turned around slowly, not chancing reaching for their guns.

Then, suddenly Ziva slammed through an emergency exit beside the standoff, gun drawn and trained expertly on the man. She immediately stopped in her tracks as she saw that Fulmer had his gun trained on Alex, but didn't lower her gun.

"Fulmer, drop your weapon now and put your hand on top of your head!" Ziva barked.

"N-no, I'm not g-going b-back to j-jail because o-of Payton! He's n-not gonna r-rat me out again. I already lost my job because of him!" Fulmer yelled his aim not wavering but his eyes were blinking rapidly and his face was pouring sweat.

"You're gonna be in a lot more trouble if you don't drop that gun, Fulmer. And we didn't bring you in here to talk about your drug addiction. We brought you in here because you're a suspect in the murder of Steve Payton. Though, that's probably gonna change now," Gibbs explained.

Fulmers eyes that were glaring daggers at Alex, widened and looked at Gibbs, "He's dead? S-serves t-that Bast-," Fulmer started.

But Alex used Fulmers current shock as a perfect distraction, and acted before anyone else could.

He skillfully kicked the gun out of Fulmers hand before he could let a shot off. Alex immediately stepped back and got into a fighting stance as Fulmer came toward him.

Fulmer threw a punch to the side of Alex's head which he neatly blocked with the side of his arm. He then kicked Fulmer hard enough in the stomach to cause him to double over in pain, Alex took advantage of the current position, and shoved an elbow into the mans temple hard enough to knock him unconscious.

Breathing heavily, Alex stepped back letting Gibbs cuff Fulmer in case he woke up.

"What happened here? I leave for a few hours and you and Mcgee are letting suspects run around wielding guns?" Gibbs asked sarcastically.

"I do not know. Mcgee was escorting Fulmer into interrogation, while I went to the bathroom. When I went to the elevator I found Mcgee unconscious in it. Me and a couple other NCIS agents went to looking for him," Ziva said as she pulled out a two-way radio.

"Fulmer has been found. I repeat Fulmer has been found," She informed to the other scouting agents that were currently all over the Navy yard.

"Is the Probie okay?" Tony asked.

"His face is bruised and he now has a duck egg on the back of his head. But Ducky says he is fine," Ziva replied.

"It's goose egg, but thanks," Tony said, as he turned to Alex, "Are you okay? Those were some pretty fancy moves you had going on just now."

"Yes, if you do not mind me asking, who taught you karate?" Ziva asked, eyeing him weirdly.

"I had an instructor. My uncle signed me up as soon as I was old enough. He helped me get everything right, or the way he wanted it, when he was home," Alex explained, leaving out that a certain elbow strike move that he had done just now was something he had learned from his time in Malagosto. But of course he didn't use quite as much force that the SCORPIA agents used. Only wanting to knock out Fulmer, not give the man brain damage...Or kill him.

Tony nodded, while Ziva looked at him thoughtfully, as if she knew he was lying.

"Looks like he's going through withdrawals," Gibbs observed, seeing the swear pouring off the man, as he lifted Fulmers eyes to see his bloodshot eyes, "That could've been roid rage. What kind of drugs was Fulmer found with when he was discharged?" Gibbs asked, Ziva.

"Steroids, cocaine, heroin, and a small portion of pot. He could've been using the drugs as he was selling them, Gibbs, because when we picked him up from his house there was a brand new Mustang sitting in his driveway," Ziva offered.

Then Ducky, a man with glasses, and two EMT's with a gurney came into the parking garage and decided to join the party.

"Gibbs the EMT's are here to take Fulmer to the hospital to deal with his withdrawals properly. And to sedate him or put him in restraints if necessary. Once he's conscious and lucid enough they will call you so you can question him," Ducky said firmly.

"_Great_," Gibbs said grudgingly, "Wait how did you know he was going through withdrawals?" Gibbs asked.

"Mcgee recognized the symptoms and he told me while I was examining him. He's becoming more and more like you and young Anthony here everyday. I had to force him to come to autopsy for some aspirin. He was determined to help," Ducky said watching the EMT's load Fulmer onto the stretcher.

Gibbs' chest swelled with pride for his youngest and most inexperienced agent, though he tried not to show it as he turned to Alex and asked "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Alex replied.

Then, Gibbs' phone gave it's shrill ring, "Yeah?" He asked into it.

There was a pause then, "Yeah, I know Abby, I'm going to check on him now, then we'll come and see you." He listened one more pause then said, "Yeah, Abby, Alex too."

Then he snapped the phone shut, and turned to Ziva, who was currently lost in her own thoughts, "Ziva, go ahead and take Alex down to Abby's lab. She's really eager to see him. She's still worried about him and what happened in the alley. And it'll take some of her mind off Mcgee. We might be awhile I want Ducky to check him over one more time."

"You got it. Lets go Alex," Ziva said, moving to the door,opening it for Alex.

He went in and went over to a elevator, Ziva hit the down button and they waited for the doors to open.

They were silent as the doors opened and they entered the lift, but just as the elevator started to descend. Ziva flipped a switch on the side of the elevator and it stopped suddenly.

"Why did you do that?" Alex asked utterly perplexed.

"I wanted to talk," She said simply.

"And that's not something we could do without shutting the lift off? Is that even safe?" Alex asked, still not comprehending.

"Should be. I mean Gibbs does it just about every day," Ziva said leaning against the side of the elevator walls.

Alex sighed and shook his head. He didn't think he was ever gonna get all of the teams odd habits down, "Okay. What is it that you want to talk about?"

"I don't know. Alex, there's something about you. The look in your eyes, it's not something you normally see on a teenager. I can tell you have been through a lot," Ziva said slowly.

Alex gave Ziva a small smile, "You sound like a fortune-teller."

Ziva smiled slightly too, "Maybe. But, Alex I know for a fact that spy missions are not easy, and they are certainly not safe. I don't care how good you are, MI6 should have never pulled you into the spy world. It is no place for a child."

"How do you know?" Alex asked curiously.

"I am a liason officer from Mossad. I used to be a Mossad spy. I have went on missions like you have, and probably have seen just about as much as you have. And I know what it's like to be forced into that world. My father is the Director of Mossad. And most of my family works for Mossad or something along those lines. And as the saying goes;it's in your blood. I'm sure you have heard that quite a bit, am I right?" Ziva asked wisely.

All Alex did was nod. A Mossad spy? Wow no wonder he felt like Ziva could see right through him. They were a lot alike. They both came from a spy family. And it kinda sounded like Ziva was pressured into Mossad by her father.**(3)**

"NCIS," Ziva continued, "has never dealt with SCORPIA before,but Mossad certainly has. I know how dangerous that organization is. And I know a deadly blow like the one you administered to Fulmer just now, was not something you learn from a regular karate lesson. Have you really been that close to SCORPIA to witness a move like that from them?" Ziva asked incredulously.

Alex just sighed, "Ziva it's a long story that I don't want to go into. Especially in a elevator," He said quietly.

Ziva looked at him hard then nodded slowly, "I understand that you would not want to talk about it. And that you want to bury your secrets so deep, so no one has to know about them. But it is not wise to keep things like that bottled up. And I guess you can call me a hippie cause I am the same way."

Alex gave a short laugh, "Uh, I think you mean hypocrite, Ziva. But yeah, you're right I don't want to talk about it."

He didn't want to sound like a bratty teenager but, even though he knew he could trust these people, this was not something he was just ready to pour out just yet.

But Ziva understood, "I get that. But, uh, if you do decide you want to..You know...talk about something. I'll be here, if you...wanna talk." She said kinda awkwardly.

She felt bad for Alex. The only person he had was lying in a hospital bed fighting for her life, while he was out on the streets fighting for his every time he turned around. _"But," _Ziva thought, "_he has got Gibbs looking out for him, as well as me, Mcgee, and Tony. We will make sure he's okay."_

"Thanks Ziva. That means a lot," Alex said gratefully as Ziva nodded and started the elevator, again and they made their way down to Abby's lab.

**(1)- okay I have no idea how old Shannon was when she died, but I know she had to have been older than Jack to have a child as old as Kelly and be with Gibbs.**

**(2)- Does anyone really know if Tony knows about Shannon and Kelly?....I personally can't remember if in any of the episodes Tony talks about it....but I forget a lot so he might. And if he doesn't lets just all pretend that he does.**

**A/N- I tried to put some more action into this chapter to make up for the slow pace of the last chapter so I hope you all enjoyed!**

**And of course thanks to Sheluby94dreamer for beta-ing for me!**

**Review and let me know how you liked it!**

**More Abby next chapter. She gets to worry about three people now! Alex, Tony, and now Mcgee! Boy, is she gonna have her hands full.**


	9. Chapter 9

Ziva and Alex silently entered Abby's lab, though the silence was not returned. This time Alex couldn't even recognize the song playing through the speakers.

Abby was sitting a her desk behind the sliding motion detecting sliding glass doors.

But once she saw Alex and Ziva her eyes lit up. She grabbed a stuffed hippo off her desk and ran for them. If for some reason the motion detectors on the doors weren't working, Abby would have ran right into them, there was no stopping her.

As soon as she was within distance, she threw herself at Alex.

"I saw what happened at the alley! Are you okay? I've already talked to Tony on the phone so I know he's okay. But I saw you get hit in the head _twice_," Abby babbled.

"Saw?" Alex choked out through the bone crushing hug.

"Yeah, the alley you were in was right beside a bank, a security camera that was set up caught everything. I was worried about you! Tony too, but then again I'm always worried about Tony," Abby said finally relinquishing her grip on him, only to have her loop her arm around Alex's dragging him over to the computer.

Alex gave her an amused smile, " Abby are you gonna let me go anytime soon?" he asked noticing she still hadn't let go of his arm.

"Nope. It seems as though you get into more trouble than Gibbs and Tony combined. Jack certainly has her hands full with you, the least me and the team can do is keep an eye on you until she wakes up," Abby said as she started typing furiously on her computer keyboard.

Then, from behind they heard, "What've you got Abs?" Gibbs asked as he walked in, with Tony and Mcgee following slowly behind.

Abby spun around, taking Alex with her, "Tony! Mcgee!" Then ran over to them jerking Alex over there with her.

The side of Mcgee's face was very bruised, all the way from his eye to the middle of his cheek, but replied strongly, "I'm okay, Abby."

"Yeah, don't worry Abs, Mc-hard-head will be fine after those aspirins kick in," Tony said smirking at Mcgee, while clapping him on the back.

"Mcgee's not the one that freaks out on pain medication, Tony," Ziva said smirking at Tony.

"If you're done Abby, can we get back to what you have? Trust me, I made sure Ducky checked out all three of them. Their fine," Gibbs assured the goth.

Abby seemed to accept that they were all relatively okay since Gibbs and Ducky said the trio were fine, because she took Alex back over to her computer, but let go of her death grip on his arm.

"I was going through the computer on Payton's hardrive, and found that he had been given a loan from a loan shark. He didn't repay the money he borrowed and had been getting threatening e-mails from a Marvin Bensting saying that if he didn't get his money it wasn't going to end well for Payton," Abby relayed.

"Marvin Bensting? Man he's a big time loan shark, Boss. We've dealt with him in Baltimore. But that's a no-go. Bensting was killed in a standoff last week, a old cop buddy of mine called me and told me," Tony informed, writing off that theory.

"Well other than that Gibbs, there's nothing that indicates that there was another person at the scene besides Payton, Moore, and Sarah Sommers. So either this guy's really good, or..," Abby said turning to Gibbs expectantly.

"Or whoever killed Payton is also one of our supposed 'victims.' Thanks Abs," Gibbs said turning to leave.

"Wait! Gibbs, I'm not finished. Do you really think I'd call you down here just for that?" Abby said excitedly.

"I thought you said you didn't have anything else?" Gibbs asked confused.

"Not anything on _this_ case, Gibbs. It's what I found in the alley where the SCORPIA agents cornered Tony and Alex," Abby said.

"Hey, we weren't 'cornered', Yokov got a lucky shot, I had _everything_ under control," Tony said offended.

"Yeah, you looked it," Ziva said gesturing to his shoulder, as Tony glared at her.

"_Anyways_," Abby said before the two could start their bickering, " you know how the bank security cameras caught everything on video? Well when they hopped the fence there was a van waiting on them. Another camera at a different angle caught its license plate. Now it's probably a stolen van, but when there's a hit on the BOLO you'll know," Abby explained.

"That's great work, Abby," Gibbs replied, once again turning to leave, this time the team and Alex followed him.

In the elevator Gibbs checked the time, 12:00 AM, they had gotten a late start on this case, but still managed to accomplish a lot. And their lead suspect was in a hospital bed, so it wasn't like he was going anywhere. They deserved a good nights rest.

"Go home, get some sleep, be back here at 0700, we'll get a fresh start on this tomorrow," Gibbs ordered.

His team had been through a lot today, Gibbs noticed as he saw Tony's face etched with pain from his shoulder.

The tired team nodded, relieved to get a good nights rest.

Alex on the other hand was wide awake, with many questions running through his mind. Would they find where SCORPIA had taken up residence until he was caught? And if so, what would Gibbs and his team do? After all they were really only Navy cops. And if they find the SCORPIA agents, and manage to take them down..what then? What about Jack? There was no way he was going to leave her, while he went back to their cozy flat in England.

Alex was pulled out of his thoughts as the elevator doors dinged open, and him and the team filed out.

Everyone went over to their desks and retrieved their stuff, while Alex waited patiently for Gibbs.

As they made their way back to the parking deck, Alex was genuinely surprised by what vehicle Gibbs came to a stop in front of. A canary yellow, 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T.

"This is yours?" Alex asked in awe.

"Yep, we took the company car home yesterday," Gibbs said simply, as they both climbed in.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs! Wait!" Abby said running as fast as her enormous boots would carry her.

Gibbs cranked the car and rolled down his window, "what is it Abby?"

"I almost forgot! Alex you got a letter in the mail today from a girl named Sabina Pleasure, we're picking up any mail you get at your new apartment for you, by the way. It's been tested to make sure there's nothing wrong with it, we certainly don't want a repeat from last time. Anyway don't worry no one's read in case it's all romantic and stuff," Abby said winking her last commented, handing over the letter.

Alex who was thinking hard about what Abby had said, was jerked out of his thoughts and blushed deeply at Abby's suggestion, " thanks, Abby."

"Alright, Abby go home and get some rest. We're gonna need you fresh tomorrow," Gibbs said revving up the powerful engine.

Abby smiled and waved as Gibbs and Alex sped off into the night.

**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER****

"Gibbs?" Alex asked curiously.

Gibbs gave him a questioning look as they were stopped at a stoplight.

"What exactly did Abby mean by a 'repeat of last time'?" Alex asked, that was one of many things that was bothering him about the current letter in his hands.

"Ah, its been awhile back, but there was this lady that sent a letter filled with a white powder to NCIS and Tony opened the letter, thinking it was for him. Everyone had to evacuate the building and be de-sanitized. Tony, being the one who opened the letter and was the closest, had to be taken to Bethesda immediately, along with Kate who had a cold at the time so her immune system was weak," Gibbs started.

"Who's Kate?" Alex asked interrupting him.

"Kate, was a agent on my team at the time. She died in the field," Gibbs said.

Alex could tell Gibbs didn't want to get into that by his short answer, so he didn't push.

"Anyways, turns out that after Tony and Kate got tested, Tony had developed the plague, Kate was fine though," Gibbs finished.

Alex was floored, "the _plague?_ That's like something you get from the dark ages how did Tony manage to survive that?"

"It was close. Tony, was said to only have a fifteen percent chance of making it. But him being the stubborn person that he is, beat it. Though his lungs were left really scarred. He has to watch himself closely when he gets sick. Even a cold Tony has to be careful with. But Ducky keeps his eye on him, and other than that he's fine," Gibbs explained.

"I see why Abby was so careful with this then," Alex said, still kinda flabbergasted. This was definitely no ordinary Navy cop investigation team.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

"You still not gonna open it?" Gibbs asked smirking at Alex, "I understand you not reading it in the car because you couldn't see, but now you've got perfect lighting." He said, as they entered the quiet house.

"Uh, no I thought I'd wait till later, you never know what to expect with Sabina," Alex lied.

Alex was unsure about the letter. He hadn't told Sabina that he was going to be in the states, much less gave her an address for her to write to. If him and Sabina did talk it was by e-mail or by mobiles anyways. Did Jack tell her? That was unlikely Jack didn't even know Sabina's number. MI6? Somehow he doubted, they cared enough to make sure he got his mail.

"How about some left over Chinese food for dinner?" Gibbs asked, taking out five white take out boxes full of various Chinese foods.

Alex was tempted to tell Gibbs he wasn't hungry to read the letter faster, but when his stomach gave a low rumble the idea was shot down.

"That's fine," Alex said, taking the plate Gibbs offered, along with a fork to fish out his food from the box.

Once he had piled the food onto his plate, Gibbs took it and put it in the microwave, before giving it back to Alex, urging him to eat, then doing the same for his own plate.

"What are you thinking about the case so far? You've been observing all day, any ideas?" Gibbs asked, surprising Alex.

He couldn't decide if Gibbs really wanted to know what he thought, if he was just trying to make conversation. Either way he answered. "Well, I kinda doubt Fulmer had anything to do with it. He's too much of a druggie. There's no way he could manage to take down two trained marines."

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. But you never know, people may surprise you," Gibbs said, not taking his eyes off his plate, "you certainly surprised the hell outta me today."

"How's that?" Alex asked, through a mouthful of noodles.

"Those moves were impressive, not something you expect from a fourteen year old," Gibbs said, almost mimicking Tony.

"Well my uncle apparently did want to make sure I was well-trained before he introduced me to the spy world," Alex said quietly.

But if Gibbs heard correctly there was a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Blunt told us your uncle was a spy, and that he was secretly training you. Is that why you do this? To follow in your uncles footsteps? Now I didn't know the man Alex, but this couldn't have been what your uncle wanted for you. Not at such a young age at least," Gibbs replied.

"_Guess Blunt didn't mention my Dad,"_ Alex thought.

Alex couldn't decide whether Gibbs was trying to put this all in perspective for himself or for Alex. Either way, it was wrong.

"Gibbs, I have no intention of following in my uncles footsteps," Alex said firmly, taking his empty plate over to the sink, rinsing it off.

"Then why are you doing this? You're constantly getting hurt, people are trying to _kill_ you. You've got to be repeatedly missing school, not to mention you've got to be missing your friends. What's making you _want_ to do this?" Gibbs asked.

"It's not that I want to do this it's that I-" Alex stopped mid-sentence, spinning around to look at Gibbs, who was watching him intently. "It's not your problem to deal with, don't worry about it. I think I'm going to go ahead and go to bed."

Alex turned to leave but Gibbs caught him firmly by his forearm.

"Alex, it became my 'problem' the moment you were assigned to my team."Gibbs said, giving Alex a hard look.

Not even Alex dared defy that look. And besides that, he had really warmed up to the man. He could tell that Gibbs really cared about what happened to him, and not just about 'doing his job.' Alex liked Gibbs, the rest of the team as well, but Gibbs was the one he trusted the most.

Alex nodded and leaned against the counter while Gibbs washed his own plate, along with some coffee cups from previous days, waiting for Alex to begin.

"When my uncle died," Alex started, "he had information for MI6. He was killed before he could deliver what he knew. Then, Blunt got the big idea to send me in to finish Ian's mission, and find out what he knew that cost him his life."

"Blunt asked you to do that?" Gibbs asked, finishing the rest of the dishes and mimicking Alex's position.

"He didn't give me a choice. He said if I didn't do the mission he would force me to have to go to a boys institution," Alex said quietly.

"What about Jack?" Gibbs asked, trying to hide his astonishment. What the hell was going on with the head of that Intelligence agency? Alex couldn't have had the proper time to mourn over losing the last member of his family, and yet there was MI6 sending him off on a mission.

"If I refuse a mission they're gonna revoke Jacks visa and send her back...well, here I suppose,"Alex explained.

"They're blackmailing you into doing this?" Gibbs asked, a few octaves higher than regular.

"More or less. Two or three of them I suppose you could count as 'voluntary', but at some point, each time I end up getting manipulated or lied to so that they get what they want," Alex replied. He wondered if he had said too much. It was easier than he thought, to talk to Gibbs. He felt that no matter what he told the man he wouldn't judge him.

"That's not right, Alex," Gibbs said quietly, running a hand across his face.

"Maybe. But that's the way it is, until I'm eighteen, at least," Alex said matter-of-factly. "Anyways, I'm going to head on up and go to bed. I'm pretty tired."

Gibbs nodded mumbling a 'goodnight' as Alex left the kitchen, leaving Gibbs alone. But the only thing running through his mind was of how alone the poor fourteen year old in his guest room must feel. And what he was going to have to do about it.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

Alex was by no means tired or going to bed. He just wanted to get to the mysterious letter.

_"With any luck Sabina is just stalking me,"_ Alex thought hopefully. He'd take crazed teenage girl over assassins any day.

But as Alex's luck would normally fall, it wasn't Sabina, and his suspicions were, in fact, correct. Alex glared furiously at the paper in his hands as he opened it and read;

_Alex Rider,_

_This game of hide and seek is over. Jack and agent DiNozzo have already been hurt because of you, lets not cause any more casualties than necessary. From what we've observed you are becoming quite close to a one special agent Gibbs. I strongly suggest you keep this letter to yourself Alex. You wouldn't want something terrible to fall upon your new friends, right? Do yourself a favor and turn yourself over to us. Besides it's just a matter of time before we catch you anyways. Save yourself the humiliation and the prospect of having someone close to you killed. Meet us in the alley where we last met if you come to your senses. You have been warned if you don't show._

_Yokuv_

**A/N- Wow this took freakishly long, sorry about that. Hope you guys didn't think I had forgotten about you. School started August the 3rd for me so it's been hectic getting my schedule straight, classrooms found, and of course, uh, studying and paying attention in class.....(yeah, right. Most of this story got wrote in physics class when we're SUPPOSED to be taking notes. "What? Of course I'm taking my notes Mr. Norman")**

**But updates SHOULD get back to normal.**

**Again awesomely beta'ed by the wonderful Sheluby94dreamer. :D**

**Review and let me know you guys haven't left me because I took like a year to update lol (I could be exaggerating I'm pretty sure it was only like a month...or two and a half but still it was a long time.)**


	10. Chapter 10

Gibbs always thought his best when he was working on his boat. It helped him relax enough to think about his situation properly.

And tonight he worked furiously with sanding his boat, thinking just as hard.

Alex Rider needed help. If MI6 kept using him they were going to get him killed. And Gibbs refused to just turn a blind eye as a helpless child was being used.

The question was: What could he do? Somehow yelling, and screaming at another government agency didn't seem like such a good idea. '_Right now at least,' _Gibbs added silently.

Sighing, he tossed the sander onto the ground, deciding to call it a night. Grabbing his SIG from the counter, he made his way up the basement stairs.

He then went over to the locked front door, rechecking his steps. He peeked through the blinds of a nearby window, the night was dark except for the glow of the full moonlight.

Gibbs then turned and made his way to the stairs, heading for his own bedroom. He paused at Alex's door, it was cracked, and the light was still on.

Thinking that the exhausted teen had fallen asleep while reading his letter, he opened the door to find...an empty room. Drawing his gun, Gibbs swiftly entered the room. Was he in the bathroom? No, Gibbs had passed the only bathroom on the way to Alex's room, it was empty.

Then Gibbs felt the gentle breeze of the midnight air on his face, the window was open and Alex was gone.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

Alex carefully entered the empty alley. Yokov did mean tonight right? It was impossible to tell considering he didn't put in a date on the letter.

Alex's plan definitely footloose. He knew getting caught by SCORPIA was inevitable, but if he got caught and Gibbs found him, and managed to take out Yokov and his men, then this whole horrible mess would be over. He could tough it out long enough for the team to find out where he was at.

As soon as he made it to the middle of the alley, everything went crazy. Four men dressed in black dropped down from fire escapes on either sides of the alley, advancing swiftly towards Alex.

Alex was ready though, dropping down into a fighting stance.

He doubted he could get away from these men, but he refused to just _let_ them take him freely. That would be too easy for them.

One brave man came up to Alex first, throwing a right cross to Alex's head, to which, he ducked easily. And aimed a roundhouse kick to the man. He clearly wasn't expecting it, because Alex hit him squarely in the chest, sending him, stumbling into two other men behind him. As the trio were untangling themselves from each other, their other partner was moving in on Alex. But the teen didn't even give the man time to act before sliding to the side and picking a nearby pipe up from a number of other debris items from the alleys filthy floor. He took its end and jabbed it into the man's stomach. The man clutched it painfully, doubling over.

But Alex made a mistake. He lost track of one of the men that were on the floor. Two were in front of him and were making their way toward him again, but just as they got close enough for him to attack them, the forgotten man tackled him to the ground. The last thing Alex saw was a fist coming straight at his jaw, then sweet darkness enveloped him.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

Alex's head _hurt._ And he was cold. He was lying on hard concrete floor, that much he could tell. He tried opening his eyes, groaning as what little light that was in the room made his head pound.

Groaning, he sat up, forced his eyes open, and looked around. Not that there was much too see. He was locked in a small, steel, dark room with a single bulb swinging back and forth, flickering so bad it looked like it was going to blow at any moment.

He tried to think about the last thing he could remember. Which also wasn't much. He knew he made it to the alley, when two strong men came and attacked him from behind, he struggled, then...nothing.

Alex was certain he had a concussion, small, but the dizziness and nauseousness he was experiencing told him he had one. Which was to be expected considering this was the third time he had been hit in the head.

Alex stood up slowly, swaying slightly. When his vision cleared he walked over to the door of his confinement. He lashed out with his foot, making the metal door shutter violently, but it didn't budge.

Sighing, he slid back down to the floor, leaning his back against the wall.

Suddenly, jolted by an important memory, he slid his hand to his converse high-tops, and to his relief he felt the thin small phone concealed with in his left shoe. It was a snug fit, but it was the only way he could think of to keep it hidden from SCORPIA, and apparently it worked.

He pulled it out, and just as his fingers, uncertainly, hovered over the first digits of the distress signal, he heard a door slam and then foot steps coming his way.

He quickly slid the phone to the back of the room, making no light was emitting from it, all he could do now was pray no one came far enough into the room to notice the small, black, phone.

He heard the door being unlocked, then two men, the ones that were in the alley, filed in and jerked him to his feet. They wrenched his hands behind his back and tied rope around his wrists.

Alex was then pushed from the room and into the hall, then to a flight of stairs that he was promptly shoved up.

At the top of the stairs there was only a single metal door, which the men through opened and threw Alex inside.

Alex lost his balance, stumbled, and fell into the middle of the room with a grunt. He sat up slowly, and looked around at his new surroundings.

It was also bare, though bigger, and there was a wooden chair sitting nearby. It had better lighting too. Alex guessed that they were in an old warehouse that had been 'renovated' for SCORPIA's use.

The door suddenly flew open, making Alex jump. Then his, stomach dropped as Yokov walked in carrying a menacing smile on his face.

Alex looked at Yokov cautiously, watching his every move. Yokov sat down in the wooden chair, casually, looking amusedly at the teenager.

"Alex Rider. MI6's youngest, and most valuable spy. _Rider,_ one of the most hated names in SCORPIA. And let me tell you, Alex, _your _name is right up there with your fathers. You've managed to ruin two of SCORPIA's missions. Not to mention killing Julia Rothman, and Nile," Yokov rattled off, playing with a ring on his finger. It was a bulky silver scorpion shaped ring. It's body rested on the top of his finger, while its tail wrapped around Yokov's finger, and it's stinger came to a point on the other side of the ring. It occurred to Alex that this man liked SCORPIA, liked everything about it. Spoke about the terrible organization with admiration.

"I didn't kill anyone," Alex defended.

"Oh? Then what would you call it?" Yokov asked.

" I don't know. Karma?" Alex replied sarcastically.

"Maybe. But SCORPIA doesn't see it that way. And neither do I," Yokov reported.

"Well what do you want me to do? Apologize?" Alex asked, sounding more confident than he felt.

Yokov only shrugged, "Sure, if you'd like. But that won't get you out of what you're in for. SCORPIA wants to see you suffer. It's time you paid your dues."

"What is SCORPIA going to do with me? If they really wanted me dead so badly why didn't they just hire another sniper like last time?" Alex asked.

"Well we figured a fast death would be too good for you. So, were bringing you back to one of SCORPIA's headquarters to make your life a little bit more...difficult. But we have some time before we leave so that means we have some time with one another," Yokuv explained discreetly.

Alex knew what that meant."Well, what are you waiting on? For your guard buddies to come and make sure I don't manage to get out of this rope and manage to beat you like I did Nile?" Alex asked, hoping the man would see this as a challenge, and at least undo the rope.

But Yokov didn't take the bait, he only smiled and said, "I'm not going to make the same mistakes people in the past have made, Alex. You're not going to be able to manipulate, talk, or distract your way out of this. You're mine."

And with those words, Yokov stood, and started his agonizingly slow pace towards Alex.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

Gibbs stormed furiously into the bullpen carrying the dreaded letter. He found the letter in lying on the edge of Alex's bed, out in the open for everyone to read. Apparently that was Alex's way of letting him know where he went and why.

The rest of the team, even Abby, was seated in there waiting on his arrival.

"Gibbs, what's going on? Where's Alex?" Ziva asked, looking past him, expecting to see him.

Gibbs then realized that in his anger, he had failed to tell anyone on his team what had happened, only shouted down his phone to get back to NCIS before immediately hanging up.

"He's gone. Abby, that letter you gave Alex wasn't a letter from a girl, it was from Yokov," Gibbs said handing Tony the letter. Everyone crowded around Tony's desk and read over his shoulder.

Their faces turned grim as they finished. Abby, being the sensitive person that she was, had tears in her eyes. Abby had obviously liked Alex the moment they met.

"Why didn't he tell you, Gibbs?" Abby asked, not understanding how Alex couldn't trust Gibbs enough to handle this.

"Well the letter did say, 'don't tell anyone', Abby," Tony, pointed out.

"But it's Gibbs, Tony. Everyone tells Gibbs everything," Abby said in total confidence and admiration of their fearless leader.

"Well apparently Alex isn't 'everyone'," Mcgee replied.

"Ziva, Tony, go check out the alley. See if you can find anything," Gibbs ordered.

They both immediately nodded and grabbed their gear, heading for the elevator.

"Do we have _anything_ that might lead us to where Yokov has taken Alex?" Mcgee asked, at loss for what he was meant to be doing.

Gibbs heaved a heavy sigh, " None that I can think of Mcgee," he started to say more but Abby's shriek cut him off.

"Gibbs!" She shouted, "Alex has a distress signal built into his phone. If he's in trouble all he has to do is key in the code and it sends a signal to MI6 telling them where he is."

"Do you know if Alex took his phone with him, Boss?" Mcgee asked.

"It wasn't in his room," Gibbs replied, he had been over every inch of the room making sure he hadn't missed anything that would be vital.

Gibbs then stood up, "Mcgee, I want to talk to the _director_ of MI6 in MTAC," he said, saying 'director' like it was the wrong title for Blunt.

"You got it," Mcgee answered, happy that he finally had something to do to help.

And with that Gibbs headed up he stairs, and straight to Vance's office, knowing that despite the late...well earliness, he would be in his office.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

Alex _hurt._ Every inch of him felt bruised...and probably was.

Yokov had left no place of him unharmed. He was bleeding in various places from where Yokov's ring and steel-toed boots had punctured skin. His torso and back caught most of the painful blows, leaving horrible, painful, bruises, he was sure at least two ribs were cracked. Not even the fetal position had helped him. His thin, white, T-shirt was in tatters.

At some point of his beating he must have slipped into unconsciousness because now he was lying in the comforts of his small room.

Blinking back hot tears he slowly forced himself to sit up, he then realized that his wrists were untied, but looking at them they were rubbed raw, and were bleeding slowly, they stung horribly every time his wrists moved in the slightest direction.

He realized he was in over his head, he needed help, preferably Gibbs' help. He slowly, as painlessly as he could, scooted over to where he had left his phone. His fingers stumbled tiredly over the keys, he was exhausted.

Once the code was entered, and he tossed the phone back into its original spot he laid down and tried to get as comfortable as he could, before drifting off into darkness.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

Everyone was seated in MTAC chairs, with the exception of Gibbs and Vance who were standing in front of the huge TV with headsets on.

Even Ziva and Tony were back from the alley. It had taken that long to get in touch with MI6, and then to get a hold of Blunt. Which only elevated Gibbs' anger. If this was how they treated one of their best agents he'd hate to see how the others were handled.

Then, suddenly, Blunt appeared on the screen, seated at a desk, looking through a file folder.

Gibbs had to hide a smirk as Tony took in Blunt's gray facial features, and he let out a low, "Geez," before promptly getting elbowed in the gut by Ziva.

"Director Vance," Blunt greeted smoothly.

"SCORPIA has Alex. They sent him a letter threatening the people around him if he didn't turn himself over. Alex obviously didn't see a way out of this because he's gone," Vance said not bothering with formalities.

"Ah, yes we've gotten the distress signal. The coordinates have been sent to your forensics lab. Though, we've recently lost the signal," Blunt replied offhandedly.

Mcgee and Abby hurried out of the room to go get the information that was sent to her lab.

"You seem pretty calm for some one with a fourteen year old MI6 agent in danger," Gibbs observed quietly.

"Alex, is a strong-willed young man. He can take care of himself," Blunt replied, dismissing the problem immediately, and giving Gibbs a hard look.

Gibbs returned the look with a deadly glare, "He obviously can't, otherwise, he would not have sent out the distress signal in the first place." He replied heatedly.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Alex has a plan? That maybe he went to SCORPIA and sent out the distress signal so you would know where they were? So you could take them down?" Blunt asked,unknowingly hitting Alex's plan on the head.

"That's suicide! He could be killed, no teenager thinks like that," Gibbs exclaimed.

"Alex is no ordinary boy. He can, and will surprise you Agent Gibbs," Blunt said wisely.

"Doesn't mean he should be used the way he is. Tell me, Mr. Blunt, does MI6 have to black mail _all_ of their spy's? Or just Alex?" Gibbs asked, not letting the man off the hook that easily.

This was news to Vance his head whipped around to glare at the man on the screen, "Is this true?"

Gibbs nearly smiled, he knew now he had Vance on his side now. He always did have a soft spot for children. A trait you gained from being a father, Gibbs supposed.

"Whatever Alex has told you, it is of no concern to NCIS. What I do within my agency is my own business. Now, do we need to send agents to DC to pick up Alex? Or is NCIS going to quit asking irrelevant questions and handle it?" Blunt asked waving off the accusation, talking as if he was asking them to pick up his dry cleaning.

"Oh, NCIS will be handling this, trust me," Vance promised firmly.

"Very well. Good day, gentlemen." And with that the MTAC screen went blank.

As Gibbs and Vance were pulling off their headsets Vance mumbled, "I never did like that man."

"Are they really blackmailing, Alex?" Ziva asked with a glint in her eyes.

Gibbs only nodded once and said, "I'll tell you later. Let's go get him."

"Only we're going in, Boss? What if there are more SCORPIA agents there than we thought?" Tony asked validly.

"SCORPIA is a very arrogant organization. I don't think they'd see it necessary to send many agents in to pick up a child. Even Alex and his apparent track record," Ziva explained.

"Just to be on the safe side take one or two other teams with you, Gibbs," Vance ordered.

Gibbs only nodded again, " And when we get back you can explain to me why you knew all of this about SCORPIA, and didn't feel the need to share, Agent David," he said to his agent. What happened to _not_ keeping secrets in his team? He started walking to the door of MTAC only to be called back by Vance.

"Gibbs. A quick word?" Vance asked, but Gibbs knew it was more of an 'order'.

He sighed, "DiNozzo, David, go alert Balboa and Parker's team that we're gonna need their help, then grab the location and Mcgee, and meet me at the car. If the GPS has been lost then Yokuv may have found Alex's phone."

And with that the two hurried out of the room.

"Leon, by the time we actually get there, Alex is going to be dead," Gibbs said quickly.

"I'll be quick. I just want to make sure we're clear on this; our orders are to protect Alex from SCORPIA. Nothing more. This is MI6's business, there's nothing we can do about Alex. No matter how bad it is," Vance said, getting straight to the point.

Gibbs didn't even dignify that with an answer, apparently Vance wasn't on his side after all. He'd help Alex however he saw fit. If he was even still alive _to_ protect.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

Alex was jolted awake by a agonizing kick to the stomach, then felt someone kneel beside him and grab a fistful of his hair, jerking his head up. Yokov.

"What the _hell_ is this?" he asked venomously.

Groaning he opened his eyes, and looked. Alex's only hope was now shattered...literally. Yokov was now holding in front of his face, bits and pieces of phone. Yokov must have found it when he entered Alex's imprisonment while he was asleep.

"What is this?" Yokov snapped, shaking Alex's head.

"Looks like a phone," Alex said dully.

The remark earned him a harsh slap to the face.

Alex got the impression Yokov was only calm and collected when things were going his way. Put a flaw in his plans and his anger overtook his low-key personality.

"Don't play dumb with me, Rider. This isn't a regular phone or you would've made a call by now," Yokov spat.

"How do you know I didn't make a call?" Alex asked, closing his eyes in an attempt to rid himself from the dizziness, and nausea he was now feeling.

"Last call dialed was to a 'Tom Harris' four days ago. You sent out a signal didn't you? Those Navy cops know where we're at don't they?" Yokov asked. He was smart. Alex had to give him that.

Alex only glared at the man.

"I'll take that as a yes," Yokov said smiling slightly, now.

"Looks like we have a change in plans, Alex." And with that Yokov walked out of the room, leaving Alex with his wandering thoughts.

**A/N- Okay, well I'm not exactly sure about this chapter. But I went ahead and posted it anyways. This is currently un-beta'ed. But hopefully the next ones will. I was getting anxious about updating and my Beta is super busy (I'm assuming) and I was getting restless. And I wasn't sure if I liked this chapter anyways, this is my first little Alex-gets-really-hurt story....If you get what I mean.** **So if that was bad I'm sorry.**

**And by the way just in case anyone was wondering; this story will most likely NOT have any spoilers for the new NCIS episodes. So anyone that's behind are all safe.(And if there does wind up being a spoiler I'll definitely let you guys know. But I don't see that happening.)**

**Anyways I hope this was somewhat good! Review and let me know, and suggestion's are always accepted.**


	11. Chapter 11

** This chapter might be a little confusing for some people but hopefully It'll clear up at the end of the chapter.**

Three NCIS teams made their way around the old abandoned building, that was a good hour away from the city limits. Every possible exit of the concrete building was now blocked by two or more agents. Gibbs' team along with Balboa and his senior field agent, were positioned at the front entrance.

Tony was reluctantly left behind to guard the back entrance with the other agents since his shoulder was out of commission.

Gibbs gave his signal and swiftly kicked in the door and everyone went filed, wielding guns.

Gibbs started scanning the room for Alex as quickly as he could, while the rest of his agents went in opposite directions to do the same.

He heard various, "clears" throughout the building.

Gibbs let his guns fall to his side. They were too late, now they really had no way to find out where Alex was.

"Damn it," Gibbs hissed vehemently.

All they agents came out of the building, and Gibbs went over to where Balboa and Parker were talking quietly.

"Hey, Gibbs. Sorry about that. You'll get them though," Balboa assured, while Parker nodded his head in complete agreement.

"Thanks, but you guys can go back to NCIS. We can take it from here. And if you could let the Director know what happened, I'd appreciate it," Gibbs said.

"You got it, Gibbs. Good luck," Parker said as they turned to go head back to their cars, with their teams.

When Gibbs' team was the only team left he said, "Alright treat this as a crime scene. We're looking for anything that might lead us to where SCORPIA has taken Alex now."

They all went to their car, opened the trunk and grabbed all their extra supplies they stowed back there for times like these.

They re-entered the building and started processing the room

Gibbs was going through empty cabinets when Tony yelled, "hey, Boss. Got something."

He found Tony in a large room that was pretty bare except for an old wooden chair.

His senor field agent was squatted down, looking grimly at something on the floor.

"What is it?" Gibbs asked.

"Blood," Tony replied simply, reaching into his bag to pull out something to take samples of the blood in. Though both of them had a pretty good idea as to whose blood it was.

"Got something down here too, Boss." Came Mcgee's echoed voice.

Gibbs got up and Tony, being done with bagging his findings, also got up and followed his Boss to an open steel door.

Then they went down a flight of stairs and into a dark hallway, and into another smaller room, where Mcgee and Ziva were.

Mcgee had a flashlight out, since the small flickering bulb was now not giving off enough light.

He shined it to a particular spot on the ground and re veiled what was left of a destroyed cell phone and quite a bit more of blood.

"And we got hair, most likely Alex's," Ziva said holding up an evidence bag with a few strands of bright blonde hair.

"Take it all to Abby. I don't know what she could possibly get from all of this but take it anyways. Maybe all this blood isn't just from one person," Gibbs said, knowing Abby could usually surprise him and get something from nothing.

**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS*ALEX RIDER**

Alex was being transported, again. They had been driving for quite a while, Alex hesitated to guess how long since he had spent most of his time asleep. Even though he tried to refrain from sleeping because of his concussion he was almost certain he had.

Looking out of the window all he could see was small houses, they would pass a gas station every once in a while. Other than that, nothing.

Yokov was sitting beside him in the backseat and another SCORPIA member was on the other side of him, while the other two members were in the front.

Yokov was sure to keep his gun well in Alex's view. He wasn't sure if it was to scare him, or intimidate him and keep him from trying anything. But Alex wasn't sure what the man thought he was planning on doing. He was pretty helpless sitting in between the two assassins.

Soon they pulled up to a huge seemingly abandoned factory-like building.

Once the car was parked, Yokov opened the door and jerked Alex out of it. He grabbed him by the upper arm, being sure to squeeze tightly on a particularly big bruise that was already forming there.

Once they were inside Alex could see that his initial reaction to it being an old abandoned building was completely wrong.

But instead of there being machines inside this factory building there was many wooden crates piled high in the huge flat one story building**(1).**

Suddenly an older man came up to them, smiling.

"Yokov, its been awhile my friend," The man had an English accent.

"Its good to see you too, Gust," Yokov greeted, as they shook hands.

Gust looked thoughtfully at Alex.

"Ah, you must be Alex Rider. Looks like you've had quite a rough time already," he said, smiling at the teen.

"And it's just getting started," Yokov said, also looking menacingly at him.

"Have you told him where he is yet?" Gust asked Yokov.

When Yokov shook his head Gust's smile got even wider.

"I'm one of SCORPIA's arms dealer. You don't think they just go out and buy their weapons do you? You, kid, are at one of my many storage units," Gust said, as if Alex was supposed to be in complete awe.**(2)**

"Since you managed to foil our last hideout we needed a place to stay till we were scheduled to move you back to Headquarters. So Gust here has been nice enough to offer his hospitality until that time," Yokov finished.

"Do you have anyplace for me to keep him?" Yokov asked Gust.

Gust gestured to a thick pole, then handed Yokov a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket.

"Once again SCORPIA wants to thank you for your hospitality," Yokov said then proceeded to jerk Alex over to the pole and cuffing him too it.

Alex had to bite back a groan as the metal cut into his already raw skin.

"Don't run off now," The assassin said smiling cheekily at the teen, before slapping him lightly on his already bruised cheek.

Alex heaved a sigh of relief and annoyance when Yokov finally walked off to talk with Gust some more.

Being right out in the open for everyone to see was definitely going to make getting away harder now.

**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS*ALEX RIDER**

Alex had been sitting awkwardly chained to the same pole for a good three hours, or at least that's what he was guessing. He spent most of that time watching people load crates up on a forklift and load them onto a truck backed up to a loading dock.

He had been given water by an unknown man that had more or less thrown it at him. Apparently Yokov did apparently want to keep him alive.

The water had given him some of his strength back. He felt more lucid and alert than before, which in turn had given him time to think about an escape plan.

He waited until he saw a someone walk by him then he spoke up, "Hey, look...I've got to go to the bathroom."

The man he was addressing gave him an odd look before walking off. When the man came back he had Yokov in tow.

"What is it, Rider?" Yokov asked dully.

"I have to pee," Alex repeated.

"Too bad. Hold it," Yokov replied.

"Look, I have a small bladder. But I don't mind wetting myself. I just hope you're ready to smell urine all the way back to SCORPIA," Alex said shrugging slightly, then having to hide a grimace at the pain it caused.

Yokov seemed to think about this idea, and was not too happy with it because he came closer to Alex then uncuffed him from the pole, before jerking him up roughly. Alex was then shoved into the man that he had talked to earlier, "Take him to the bathroom, then straight back and cuff him to the pole. If he gets away it's going to be your ass."

"Yes sir," The man said grabbing Alex by the upper arm and leading him to the bathroom.

They headed in the far side of the building to a small bathroom, with nothing but a toilet, a sink and a cracked mirror hanging over it.

The teen was shoved in and the door was slammed shut and he heard a, "Hurry up," from the man on the other side of the door waiting on him.

Alex carefully and quietly flipped the lock on the door.

He then sighed and turned to look at himself in the broken mirror. He grimaced at the sight of himself. His right eye was completely black. And to add to it both sides of his face were bruised.

Stepping back and lifting his tattered shirt up to look at his battered chest he could see that his entire torso and back was worse off than his face.

His abdomen was almost completely black and blue with bruises. Especially around his ribs where he suspected he had either broken, fractured, or badly bruised one or two of his them. Primarily since every breath he took caused a fair amount of pain.

He knew that if he didn't get away soon he was going to be in even worse condition than he already was. Particularly if Yokov managed to bring him to SCORPIA.

"Hey! Quit playing around in there and hurry up!" Came the man's voice through the door again.

Alex didn't reply back but took the mirror with its metal frame off the wall and turned around to face the door then forced his body into a fighting position.

"Hey!" The man said once again before trying the door only to find that Alex had locked himself in.

The man shouldered his way into the room, breaking the lock on the door.

As soon as the man entered Alex brought the mirror up and lashed out with it, and it made contact with the side of the man's head.

The man went down but he groaned and cursed and started to get back up, apparently the man had a hard head.

Alex stepped back and brought a swift kick to the man's jaw, effectively knocking the man out.

The teenage spy looked carefully out of the bathroom door to see if anyone had seen what had just taken place.

Nobody looked alarmed, the few people that were around were busy talking and doing their jobs. He slipped silently out of the bathroom and took cover behind one of the high stacks of wooden crates that were around. One up side was that he had good cover so no one would notice him.

Though Alex was now at loss for what to do now. He had somewhat managed to get away... Now what?

When he thought about it he didn't feel that he wanted to leave without causing some havoc first.

This arms dealer sold illegal guns to criminal organizations. Mainly SCORPIA. Who's to say that this man hadn't supplied SCORPIA with the gun that had killed his Uncle? Or the sniper that shot him?

Shaking his head at his own pride he headed in the opposite direction of where he knew the exit was.

**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS*ALEX RIDER**

"We're in position. Waiting on signal to go in." Was what leading agent Kyle Lockhart heard in his earwig.

"Wait for my command," Kyle whispered into his microphone concealed in his cuff.

"Copy that," He heard coming from his various teams that were in their positions.

**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS*ALEX RIDER**

He walked cautiously, having to duck down a few times to avoid being seen until he found something of use to him. There was a desk in the corner, looking around quickly Alex walked hastily over to the desk and knelt down behind it. He slowly surveyed the top.

Alex spotted a bottle of water on the top of the desk. He quickly confiscated the bottle and headed back to the safety of the crates and began his search again.

Finally he came to a stop in front of a power outlet with an overly used extension cord. In school they had called this a 'major fire hazard'. Especially because if was lying right next to one of the many stacks of wooden flammable crates. Alex was about to give them a very hands on demonstration of just how dangerous this could be.**(3)**

He unscrewed the top of the water bottle and cautiously poured the water onto the extension cord. As soon as he heard and saw the sparks he quickly started making his way into the other direction.

As he got closer to where he had been cuffed he could hear Yokov's raised voice.

"What do you mean you lost him? He took you _down?_ I beat that kid to a pulp and he still managed to take you down?!" He asked firing questions at the man Alex had knocked out.

But before the man could retort there was a loud boom on the opposite end of the factory it shook the building, sending smoke and debris everywhere.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

Lockhart heard the muffled boom on the other end of the factory that they were at, and then the yells and fast moving feet. He knew he had to act quickly, "Move in on three." He said swiftly to the rest of his team.

**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**

"What-" Yokov said turning around to look int the direction he had heard the boom.

Alex looked around himself, surprised at the explosion. He saw that the machines like a small forklift that was hooked up to the power outlet Alex had spilled the water on had short circuited and had exploded. The fire was expanding quicker than he had planned.

He felt that now was the time for him to leave. He had obviously caused enough havoc here. He turned around and saw that Yokov was staring at him fiercely.

"Rider," he hissed, making his way toward the teen, ignoring the fire and people who worked for Gust that were now scrambling away from the fire.

Alex looked around for anything to defend himself with. He knew he would not be powerful enough especially in his current state to fight off Yokov. Not being able to find a weapon he looked for an escape. But he had already seen that the only useable exits were now on the other side of Yokov.

The Assassin advanced quickly on the boy, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him close.

"Rider, you've really tried my patience today," Yokov said before laying another hard punch into Alex's jaw.

He spit crimson blood from his mouth.

The man then tried to drag Alex over to an exit but he spy began struggling. Alex heard his shirt rip off of him, and lay in Yokov's hand.

The assassin growled and before Alex had time to react he aimed a kick to the teen's lower legs knocking him expertly off of his feet and onto his back.

Yokov stood over him and bent over coughing slightly from the smoke-filled factory. If they didn't get out of there soon they would run out of oxygen. He bent over to drag Alex back to his feet but a door slamming open and a man's voice yelling, "FBI!"

Yokov cursed in Russian.

A man came up to them, coughing already from the smoke. He seemed surprised by the fact that a man was looming menacingly over a bruised boy, and of all places at a arm's dealers storage unit that was currently on fire. But the man didn't falter.

Aiming his gun as best he could through the thick cloud of black smoke he ordered, "Back away from the child and put your hands in the air."

There was another loud explosion. This time it was closer, causing heat to become greater, and debris to come flying at them. The man had to shield himself from the debris and Yokov took this a excellent distraction and he threw a powerful kick to Alex's ribs and took off for the exit.

Pain erupted in Alex's chest and he found that he couldn't breathe. All he could do was gasp painfully on the floor, and the fact that the room was filled with smoke wasn't helping either.

He then felt someone kneel beside him.

"Take it easy, son. My name's Kyle. You're gonna be okay," he heard distantly, everything was becoming hazy to him. He felt gentle fingers examine his ribs. Alex felt himself being lifted into someone's arms. Any other time he would have been embarrassed by this notion but now, not being able to breathe properly, he didn't care.

He was carried out of the fire-stricken building just as a fire truck appeared to put the fire out. Kyle then proceeded to take him to a car and putting him in the passenger seat.

"You just keep concentrating on your breathing, kid. I know it hurts," Kyle said sympathetically.

Then someone came up beside Kyle, "We've got Gust, along with a few other of his employee's that were in the building. Oh my- Kyle what's wrong with him?" Said a woman's voice.

"Looks like he's been beaten. I think one of his ribs have punctured a lung too. I'm taking him to the hospital. Tell Patterson he's in charge," came Kyle's quick response as he hurried around to the driver side of the car. Then as quick as he could he sped off to the nearest hospital.

**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS*ALEX RIDER**

Abby was pacing in the middle of the bullpen, waiting on her fearless leader and the rest of the team to enter the room. The blood tests were in and they were not good. And now she had to break it to Gibbs.

The elevator door dinged and everyone quickly filed in and made their way to their desks.

"Abby what are you doing up here?" Mcgee asked, already swiftly typing away at keys on his keyboard.

"I come bearing news. Bad news. I got the blood tests back and _all_ of the blood I tested came back as Alex's. He's hurt Gibbs," Abby said sadly.

"Do you have anything that might lead us to where Alex was taken?" Gibbs asked lightly. He knew Abby was upset but he had to know.

"No! We have nothing! What are we going to do Gibbs?" Abby shrieked, genuinely worried for her new young friend.

"We've got agents at every airport, harbor, and bus station. And there's still that BOLO for that van. Don't worry Abby we'll find him," Tony said determinedly.

This seemed to pacify Abby some because she nodded reluctantly and stopped pacing as much then went over the Mcgee's desk to help him with whatever he was doing on his computer.

Gibbs just hoped Tony was right.

**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS**ALEX RIDER**NCIS*ALEX RIDER**

Kyle Lockhart sat in the hospital waiting room doing exactly that, waiting. He wrung his hands anxiously. What was a teenager doing in an arm's dealers storage unit? Especially in the state he was in.

He was genuinely surprised to see Special Agent Tobias Fornell step through the hospital doors.

His boss walked up to him.

"I understand you and your teams did a great job today, Lockhart. We got Gust. But from what else I've heard you stumbled across a child," Fornell said saying his last sentence slowly in slight astonishment.

"Yeah, I did. A teenager," Kyle replied.

"Did you get a name?" Fornell asked.

"No, a man that looked like he wanted to kill the boy kicked him in the ribs and he punctured a lung. The guy got away though. Fornell he had bruises all over him. He was beaten," Kyle said sadly.

"Have you gotten an update yet?" Tobias asked.

When Kyle shook his head no, Tobias went over to the nurses station and began talking to a nurse, and then proceeded to showed her his credentials. She swiftly got up to find a doctor to get an update for the FBI agents.

"We tried to ask Gust who the kid is but he isn't talking. He just said that if he did talk he would be in even bigger trouble than he was now but with one of the organization he sold weapons to," Fornell explained when he got back to Lockhart.

Kyle could only nod confusedly. What is so important about this kid that a whole entire organization is willing to kill a man for?

Suddenly a older looking doctor walked up to them carrying a clipboard in his hands.

"Are you the agents here for the teenager that was brought in?" the man asked.

"Yes, we are. How is he?" Kyle said standing up.

"I'm doctor Bensting. He's stable right now. Do you know who he is? That would help us a lot with his condition. We know nothing about the boy. At some point it could do more harm than good if he's allergic to any medication. And we're not really supposed to divulge information for a minor to anyone other than family. Has his parents been notified?" Dr. Bensting asked.

"We don't know who he is. So no, we can't notify his parents. Is he awake? We need to ask him some questions," Fornell said sternly.

"He was awake for a moment before we gave him some painkillers. The boy is very badly bruised on just about every part of his body. And was in quite a bit of pain. But before he fell asleep he kept mumbling the names 'Gibbs' and 'NCIS'. Does that mean anything to you, gentlemen?" Dr. Bensting asked the agents.

Fornell paled a bit, sighed, and mumbled, "great."

Then he started to walk away but before he exited the building he turned around and addressed Kyle, "Stay with the kid until I get back. I've got to make a trip to NCIS."

**A/N- Well here we go. Alex is safe...Kinda ;) I was really on the fence about posting the chapter. I had quite a few possible ways to go with this but this one seemed to be the more thought out one and the more...possible one I guess.**

**And I had some MAJOR help from ChakramVampire for her help on this chapter! She gave me a lot of help and motivation for this so I would definitely give a thanks to her! Thank you!!!!**

**(1)- You know what I'm talking about right?...Those flat buildings where the bad guys out their stuff in? OH! Like on one episode of NCIS where Ziva shoots that African(?) dude in the foot...lol Yeah just picture that but bigger.**

**(2)- I have no idea where Criminal organization's get their guns...They just might go out and buy them....so just smile and nod on this one lol.**

**(3)-I'm also not a fire bug so I have no clue if it would really cause an explosion and fire like this.**

** And I know a lot of people say this but reviews really do encourage writers to write more and to write quicker. So drop a real quick review for me please and thank you!**


	12. Chapter 12

The team was furiously going through various things that could lead them to Alex, though none of them were coming up with anything. Tony was currently talking on the phone with an agent about the BOLO on the van.

Vance watched all of this from the catwalk that looked over the team's bullpen. The Director made his way down the stairs, then came to a stop at the edge of Tony's workspace.

"Still nothing?" He asked, addressing the group.

"No," came Gibbs' terse reply, without looking up from his own work.

"Well I've got more news. I informed Blunt about this little predicament. He's not exactly happy. He has decided to send in an SAS team to find Alex, and then take him back too London," Vance explained.

"They have about as much to go on as we do. What makes them think they can find them any easier? And on top of that they don't even know if the kid's still alive _to _take back to London. I don't like the way they're doing that kid, Leon. It's not right," Gibbs said forthright.

"Me neither but there's nothing we can do. It's not our Government agency to interfere with," Vance said sternly.

Ziva butted in shaking her head, "That should not matter. When I was in Mossad and needed help no one even batted an eye about helping me. They did it automatically. Now, Alex needs help we can't just turn a deaf ear as he's being blackmailed," Ziva said getting angry again about the way Alex was being treated, it had taken all of her training she had to not start yelling when Gibbs had explained to them about the blackmailing.

"Blind eye. But you got the 'batted an eye' one right," Tony corrected immediately.

"I'm all for ideas, but not at the risk of hurting this agency. Or country," Vance said as the 'ding' of the elevators sounded.

Being an old habit of his, Gibbs cast a glance to see who had entered.

Gibbs eyes burrowed as he saw who it was. Fornell. Perfect. And here he thought his day couldn't get any worse.

He stood up, eyes locked with Fornell's, as the man made his way over to them.

"Gibbs, you wouldn't happen to be missing anything would you?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, apparently better security in this building. What are you doing here?" Gibbs asked.  
"You wouldn't happen to be missing a teenager would you?" Fornell asked, looking around.

"Actually yes. What do you know?" Vance asked suspiciously

"We were infiltrating a known arms dealer today, and stumbled across a child," Fornell said as if that explained it all.

"Well where is he? And what makes you suddenly think he belongs to NCIS?" Tony said slowly as if he was talking to a baby.

"He's currently at the hospital. He was beaten. A rib punctured a lung also. His doctor said he was stable though. He was awake for a brief moment and the doctors said he mumbled the words 'NCIS' and 'Gibbs' before they gave him a something for the pain. The doctor said he was in a great deal of it. You want to tell me who this kid is?" Fornell asked timidly he was no fan of being left in the dark.

"His name's Alex Rider. Which hospital is he at? Is there someone with him now? He shouldn't be alone, Fornell," Gibbs said standing up and grabbing his coat then motioning for his team to follow suit.

"Keep me informed," Vance said before turning back to go to his office to inform Alan Blunt about this news.

"Mcgee, go get Ducky. I'm going to need him to explain all this medical gargle," Gibbs said swiftly.

"He's at St. Peterson's. And I left the agent that found him there to watch over him until you got there. Is this for a case?" Fornell asked as he walked with Gibbs and the team over to the elevator.

"In a way. It's a protection detail. And yes, that's all I'm going to tell you," Gibbs said to his friend.

The elevator doors came open and revealed a startled Abby who was clutching Bert the Hippo tightly to her chest.

"What's going on? Do we have a lead? And why has the FBI decided to grace us with their presence?" Abby asked firing questions at them.

"They stumbled upon Alex today. We're going to the hospital to see him," Tony explained.

Abby's face lit up, "That's great! But wait, hospital? What's wrong with him?" Abby yelled as they all squeezed into the semi- small elevator.

"He was beaten and a rib punctured a lung that's all we know. I take it you're going with us now?" Gibbs asked, seeing as Abby made no movement to hit the button on the elevator to take her to her lab.

"Of course, I am." Abby replied simply, thinking of all the possible outcomes of a punctured lung.

Gibbs only smiled slightly at her devotion to people she hardly knew. It was true when people said that when you're a friend of Abby Scuito's she'd do anything for you.

* * *

"How's Alex?" Was Abby's quick question as soon as the doctor made it within earshot of the group.

"Who are you exactly?" The stunned doctor asked, slightly perplexed by the group before him.

"We're from NCIS. We believe you have a teenager here that was in our protection," Tony answered.

"Ah, yes. You said his name was Alex?I'm doctor Bensting the doctor that dealt with Alex when he was brought in. It's good to finally have a face with a name," Doctor Bensting said.

"His name's Alex Rider. Is there any chance of you telling us how he is anytime today?" Gibbs asked, already getting frustrated.

"Yes, of course. Alex has had quite a bit of a day. He has a mild concussion that we're keeping an eye on, also his lung wound up collapsing. We had to put in a chest tube to get the fluid off the lung and for it to re-inflate. We've only just now been able to take out the chest tube. He's also getting the beginning signs of pneumonia, which is common after someone has a punctured lung. He's on oxygen to make sure he's being able to breathe okay. And we're monitoring the pneumonia symptoms closely. He's already developed a fever. Fortunately we have all of this under control at the moment. By the looks of it he was severely beaten. There's some bruising that looks like the outlines of a hand, and boot markings. If he wasn't on a light painkiller he'd be in a lot more pain than he is now," Bensting concluded.

"More than he is now? Why is he in any pain at all?" Mcgee asked.

"Because Timothy with the concussion Mr. Rider has sustained, too much pain medication could do more harm than good at the moment," Ducky answered without thinking before Alex's doctor could.

Ducky gave Doctor Bensting an apologetic look, "Uh, do forgive me doctor. Old habit."

The doctor only smiled at him and replied, "Quite all right, it's good to have someone in a group that understands the medical talk."

"Can we see him?" Abby asked hopefully.

Doctor Bensting seemed to consider this, then nodded, "Visiting hours are over. But I don't see the harm in it. And the poor kid's been alone through this whole ordeal besides that FBI agent all day. Follow me."

The team all followed the doctor to Alex's room, while they were trailed behind by Fornell.

When they approached Alex's room they were met by Kyle's FBI agent who was leaning against the wall of Alex's room.

The man straightened up when he spotted his boss coming over to him.

"Fornell," He greeted, since he didn't know any of the other people.

"Agent Lockhart this is Leroy Gibbs from NCIS along with his team. Their assigned on protection detail for Alex," Fornell informed.

"We want to thank you for finding him and getting him to a hospital so quick. You probably saved his life," Gibbs said extending his hand that was previously laying at his side.

"I was just doing my job," Lockhart said modestly, grasping the older mans rough and calloused hand.

"Have you talked with him?" Abby said looking anxiously at the door of Alex's room.

"No, I peeked in on him a few times, But he was asleep. He looked okay...well as 'okay' as he could be, but he was in some pain," Kyle informed her.

"Gibbs we might have to come back to ask Alex some questions when he's better. That is, of course, if we can't drag it out of this guy first," Fornell said turning with his agent to leave.

"Take care of him agent Gibbs," Kyle said in a concerned tone. This man was obviously a kid person.

Gibbs nodded once, barely listening to the men, then shouldered his way past the doctor that was standing beside the door. He walked into the room with Abby and the team hot at his heels.

When everyone's eyes landed on the still teenager Gibbs was certain not one of his team member were not in shock.

Alex looked down right horrible. He was laying in the elevated hospital bed, with a thin blanket folded over his lap. This torso up remained bare. This was what Gibbs was having a hard time taking his eyes off of.

Nearly every part of the boy's abdomen was black or purple. Some spots were cut and had to be stitched.

Alex's face was not only bruised and cut but to make things worse it was etched with pain, with sweat forming on his forehead. He was definitely in a light and restless sleep. The oxygen mask wasn't helping his appearance much either.

Gibbs watched as Abby walked slowly and quietly up to the side of the bed. With tear-filled eyes she wrapped her gentle hand into Alex's lax, clammy one.

Gibbs glanced at the rest of his team.

Ducky was looking at Alex with assessing eyes, thinking of all the medical things that could be done.

Mcgee only watched from the foot of the bed with sad, sullen eyes.

Tony and Ziva both had hard looks on their faces. This was probably came because of them both having harsh childhoods. They knew what it was like to feel hurt and alone.

Gibbs suspected if he could see his facial expression at the moment it would be that of grief. This was his fault. This happened while Alex was on his watch. He had never let something like this happen before. He was a marine! How could he let a child slip out of his house unnoticed?

"This isn't right Gibbs," Abby whispered as she put Bert the Hippo on the side of Alex for comfort.

"I know Abby," he whispered back.

"You heard the way that man was talking about Alex! They don't care about him. They're just using him. He could be killed, he would've been if the FBI hadn't found him," Abby ranted, eyes still on the kid before her.

"I know, Abby," Gibbs repeated.

"Well... What are we going to do about it?" She asked.

Gibbs' phone then took it's cue to ring. He flipped it open and answered, "Gibbs."

Everyone watched him as he listened.

"_Gibbs, we have a problem. MI6 has decided to bring Alex home. They feel that since SCORPIA __now knows that he's in DC it would be better to send him somewhere else. They're still sending an SAS team to bring him home," _Vance's voice rang out through the receiver and into Gibbs' ear.

"Is there any way you can convince them otherwise? He shouldn't be moved in the state he's in Vance!" Gibbs replied, for some reason Gibbs had a bad feeling about letting them take Alex back.

"_I've tried. It seems there's no negotiating with them. They're on their way," _Vance concluded.

Gibbs let out a sigh, "Fine." Then he flipped his phone back shut. Sometime he felt that he had two jobs NCIS federal agent _plus_ Director. It seemed he was doing more and more of Leon's job.

He looked around at his expecting team.

"MI6 is sending an SAS team in to pick Alex up and take him back to London then take him somewhere else for protection," Gibbs relayed.

"We have to do something, Boss," Tony said quietly. Behind Tony, Gibbs could see Mcgee's head nodding firmly in agreement. Everyone in the room could see the injustice of what was happening to Alex. Now it was up to them to make it right. No matter what.

Alex then took his cue to groan heavily. He was waking up.

Abby put a hand on the top of his forehead, wrinkling her eyebrows together as she felt the heat radiating off of it.

"Alex? Open your eyes," Abby commanded gently rubbing a hand through his locks.

Alex weakly opened his eyes, squinting at the bright lights that were pounding into his eyes, making his head pound in rhythm.

"Abby?" He managed to croak out, his throat sounded dry and scratchy.

Tony grabbed a cup with a straw on the bed tray that was sitting beside him and gave it to Abby she, in turn, held it to Alex's lips who blushed a bit but took a few gracious sips.

"Thanks," He said quietly as he watched Ducky slip out of the room to alert someone that he had awoken.

"No problem. How do you feel? And don't lie because we'll know. NCIS interrogates for a living," Abby said, Gibbs vaguely noticed that her hand was still grasping Alex's.

The spy gave a small smirk but replied,"It hurts a bit, but I'll be okay."

Then he started coughing deep and seemingly painful coughs. Tony visibly winced at the sound in understanding sympathy and remembering his stay in the hospital coughing.

Gibbs waited for his coughing to subside and for the teen to regain his breath before informing, "Well I got some news Alex. MI6 is sending an SAS team to take you home, then they said something about sending you somewhere else for protection," he finished, watching Alex's face closely for his reaction.

And as expected the boy's face hardened and became blocked off, "When?" he asked sharply, through the pain that the coughing fit had started.

"They'll be here sometime tomorrow," Gibbs answered.

Alex seemed to consider this for awhile. The team watched him closely for signs of an outburst or well, anything. They didn't know what to expect with the boy.

Soon Alex seemed to come to a conclusion.

"When can I go home?...Uh, I mean, when can I leave?" Alex asked, trying to sit up.

The sudden movement caused him to ignite the pain in his middle. He cried out uncontrollably as even more pain erupted in his body, and Abby pushed him gently back onto the bed.

"You're not leaving here anytime soon I can tell you that now, Mister," She said, "You're hurt."

"You don't understand. If they come and send me somewhere else it's more than likely _not_ to an agency like NCIS. They'll say it's for a vacation or some lie like that and it'll turn out to be a mission they've conned me into," Alex said urgently, starting to pant heavily in the pain that was currently settled in his entire torso.

"They wouldn't send you into a mission in the state you in," Abby said, though it was more of a question.

"They'll more than likely give me awhile to heal, but not properly. Not more than a week after I was shot they had me on a mission," Alex said, adding in the whole Ark Angel fiasco to get his point across.

They all turned to Ziva who was more than qualified in the spy field, and saw that she could only look at them and nod in conclusion that Alex was more than likely right. Especially if MI6 was anything like Mossad was.

This seemed to send the team into a long silence. Everyone thinking the same thing; _What the _hell_ is going on with this agency?_

Suddenly Ducky came back in with a nurse, who was holding a syringe in her hand.

"Hello, Mr. Rider. It sure is nice to have a name with a face. It looks like you're in quite a bit of pain here. I can't give you a heavy painkiller just yet because of your concussion. But I can give you a light one to take the edge off the pain," She said in a nice tone.

Alex found that he could only nod and watch as the nurse administered the painkiller into his IV port then pull out a thermometer to take his temperature.

"101.6, well your fever has come down a bit. So that's good, I'll be back later to administer you some antibiotics for your pneumonia," Was all the nurse replied, before retreating out of the room.

They all waited silently and watched as Alex calmed down and the pain was subsided to a more tolerant level.

Gibbs finally broke the silence, "Where exactly did you think you were going just now?"

Alex seemed to take this in for a moment before shaking his head tiredly, "I don't know. Somewhere. I can't keep doing this. I'm tired of being used, I just want this whole mess to be over. I want to be left _alone_. I refuse to wind up like the rest of my family."

Gibbs quickly filed away Alex's slip up. _Rest of my family._ That implies that there was more than just his uncle in the spy world.

"So you're going to runaway?" Tony asked.

"No...I don't know," Alex said obviously defeated.

Abby looked up at Gibbs then looked deep into his eyes giving him a hard looked before she said, "You know Alex we have a motto here at NCIS...Well...Me and Gibbs do it goes; 'if you need help all you have to do is ask," Abby said said looking down at Alex.

"Do you need help, Alex?" Gibbs asked, knowing the answer, but wanting to hear it come out of the teen's mouth.

It was now Alex's turn to look Gibbs into the eyes.

He gave a exasperated laugh before saying quietly, "What can you possible do?"

Abby gave him a wicked smile, "Boss man can do anything, Alex. And we all want to help."

Alex looked around at the people before him, their expressions were all the same. They really did want to help him.

But he shook his head, "I can't ask you to do that, you barely know me. And besides that I don't want to get you in trouble. Yokov's going to come back whether I like it or not and I can't put you at risk. You've been really nice to me."

"Alex, I've had Ducky do a profile on you – it's sorta his specialty, and he has came to the realization that you're obviously not trusting of people. Adults especially. It's time for you to let that shield you've put around yourself down and let us in to help. You have to trust us. We can help you get out of this, but you're going to have to open up," Gibbs in a tone that was firm but gentle at the same time, in a way that surprised Alex himself to find he was comforted by this.

Alex looked at Gibbs and into his eyes. They were strong, protecting. Alex hadn't seen this kind of emotion aimed at him since...well... Ian. And looking down at himself now he undoubtedly needed help. He _couldn't_ keep going on like this. It would kill him.

The teens eyes looked around the room at the concerned people in his hospital room before his eyes landed back on Gibbs. Alex nodded his head and replied quietly, "okay."

Gibbs smirked before leaning back in his chair, "Wise choice."

Alex managed his own small smile. He had a feeling he would've gotten the teams help even if he had refused it.

"What exactly are you going to do?" Alex asked with a yawn.

"They can not force you to come back with them, Alex. And if they do we will handle it. Do not worry," Ziva assured firmly.

"Yes, I do think we've overstayed ourselves here. Alex does need his rest," Ducky replied noticing Alex's yawn, and clearly exhausted look.

Abby pouted but walked away from the bed, promising to see Alex as soon as possible.

"Tony, you're in charge. Call me if you run into any trouble with that SAS team. And while you're waiting you three need to get caught back up in that case Vance assigned us," Gibbs replied.

"You're not going with them?"Alex asked, but snuggling back down in the covers as best he could without causing his injuries to flare again.

"You said it yourself, Yokov is going to come back. Which means I want you with someone at all times. And I have a feeling MI6 isn't going to let you go so easily, so you better get some rest," Gibbs ordered.

Alex closed his eyes, slowly drifting off when he felt a small but firm tap on the top of his head. His eyes snapped open and he was looking at the face of Gibbs, "What was that for?" he asked blankly.

He then heard Abby's giggle by the door and as he looked over he saw the whole team huddled together, smirking widely at him.

"That was for not telling me as soon as you read that letter. And something tells me you're gonna be getting a few more of these headslaps, maybe more than Tony," Gibbs said simply.

"Welcome aboard, Alex," Tony replied with a laugh before exiting the room with the rest of the team.

"Don't worry, Alex. The headslap's are Gibbs' way of showing he cares," Abby said before retreating out of the room.

Ducky lagged behind with a stern warning to the boy in the bed, "Alex, I want you to rest as much as possible, young man. I'll be back tomorrow to see you."

"Okay, Ducky," Alex replied half asleep as the painkillers effect started taking toll on the tired body.

Gibbs looked down at the sleeping boy, he had a gut feeling helping Alex was going to be more than he bargained for. But he also had a feeling that it was going to be worth it.

**A/N- oookkkayyy this chapter was the hardest to write...i think EVERY I have no idea what the reaction to this one's going to be so I'm just going to post the chapter and back away sllooowwwllyyy and Hope I don't get my head bitten off.**

**I've tried like three different ways to get the transition through for Alex to trust the team(especially Gibbs) more...but I just can't make it stick...Hopefully this chapter and the upcoming one is starting to do that.**

**Now I was going to do more than just the hospital scene in this chapter but it took me this long to just do this so I thought everyone had suffered enough and I just made this one chapter. Hopefully the next chapter won't be as hard to write lol.**

**And I want to thank my new lovely Beta ChakramVampire for her awesome beta-ness. She helped me pick just the right way to go with this chapter and urged it along abit.**

**Review and tell me what you think!**


	13. Chapter 13

"You're accusing my boyfriends best friend with his _murder_?" Sarah Sommers asked incredulously from her seat in interrogation room one.

"We have evidence that proves that only the three of you were in the house when the fight started," Tony stated, looking down at the file laid out in front of him.

"Or maybe NCIS just does terrible forensics," Sarah suggested rudely.

"What happened to you? When my boss talked to you, you were more... Even tempered," Tony asked.

"I guess you could say I was in shock." Was all she would reply.

"And if Jason's the one being accused then why am I here?" Sarah asked confused.

"Well you said you were there. We want to know why you did not do more to even _attempt_ to stop it," Tony stated.

"I got hit in the head," Sarah reminded.

"Yes, we spoke to the paramedics; Your weren't hit in the head hard enough to knock you out. Now if you loved this man as much as you say you did, why didn't you try to find a way to help, instead of waiting until he was dead?" Tony asked closing her in.

Sarah looked momentarily shocked by this statement before saying, "I think I need a lawyer."

Tony sighed heavily as he approached the bullpen. Lawyers tended to complicate things... and they made Gibbs exceptionally grumpy.

He looked up to see Ziva talking angrily to two large men, with Mcgee standing awkwardly off to the side, obviously watching to see if he would need to jump in if Ziva were to start tearing heads off the men.

"What's all the ruckus?" Tony asked in a western accent.

"These are the SAS soldiers here to take Alex," Ziva said glaring at the two men.

"And we need to know what hospital he's at." The taller of the two said with an English, Liverpool accent, "My name is Ben Daniels, I'm....a friend of Alex's."

The NCIS agents all shared a look.

"And you?" Ziva asked the other man who had yet to introduce himself.

"My name is Scott Marciel, but uh, Cub would probably know me more as Wolf," He said.

"Cub? Wolf? What, did you both have pet names for each other?" Tony asked confused.

"He means Alex," Ben corrected giving his friend a warning glare.

"Right, well I'll call my Boss," Tony said picking up his cell phone and moving to the stairs so he would not be overheard, while leaving the two men at the mercy of Ziva.

The phone rang twice before, "Gibbs."

"Hey, Boss. Those SAS men are here. And they seem to know Alex. You want me to send them on to the hospital? Or should I stall them?" Tony asked, making eye contact with Daniels before turning away.

"No, send them on. The quicker they get here the quicker they can leave." Came his Boss' smooth reply. But Tony could tell Gibbs just wanted them there so he could yell at someone in person.

"Got it, Boss. I'll send Ziva to escort them. They're both shaking in there combat boots over her," Tony said with a smile as he thought of his little ninja.

"Good." Was the last thing Tony heard before the line went dead.

Tony shook his head and couldn't help but feel a bit bad for these soldiers, for they were about to witness the wrath that was Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Gibbs was still sitting in the same seat as before except now he was holding a coffee in one hand. His thoughts drifted to Shannon and Kelly. His first love and their beautiful daughter.

Gibbs always wanted a son. When Shannon was pregnant he secretly hoped it would be a boy. But when Kelly did come she immediately had him wrapped around her little finger, all yearning for a boy lost and forgotten.

There was a sudden knock at the door and Ziva appeared in the doorway.

"They are here. I made them wait in the hall, I was not sure if Alex was ready to face them just yet," Ziva said looking at the boy in the bed who was sleeping, sweating slightly from his fever.

"Well if I can help it I don't want them to even have to see Alex," Gibbs said getting up and walking out of the room.

"Stay with Alex." he said lightly as he noticed Ziva had moved to leave the room also.

She looked a bit down that she was not going to be able to see the upcoming conversation but she sat down anyways in Gibbs vacant seat.

Gibbs walked into the hall to see the two men a couple paces away from Alex's room huddled together talking quietly.

"Are you Special Agent Gibbs?" The taller man asked.

"Yep," Gibbs confirmed simply.

"Well then you know why we're here. I'm Ben Daniels, and this is Scott Marciel." the man said.

"You know Alex," Gibbs stated.

"Our path's have crossed on occasion," Ben said clearly avoiding the question.

"Well I think it's a bit more than that. Care to explain?" Gibbs ordered more than asked.

"We've both worked with Alex on separate occasions," Daniels explained.

"You _worked _with a teenager on something that was more than likely going to get him killed, is that it?" Gibbs accused.

Daniels looked a bit guilty while the other man looked fed up.

"Look, I didn't want to work with the kid in the first place, but we didn't have a choice. And I told the kid to stay where I left him but he ran off and nearly got himself killed. Then I ended up taking a bullet for the kid! So I don't want to hear about how we weren't looking after him. If it had been my choice I would've sent him home after he got hit by that train," Scott said angrily, ranting even though Gibbs had no idea what he was talking about.

Ben rolled his eyes and punched the man in the arm.

"You see? _This _is why you didn't get assigned to MI6. You can't keep your mouth shut when you get angry." He accused.

"Hit by a _train?_" Gibbs asked shocked though his features schooled otherwise.

"It's classified," Daniels relented.

"Look, we don't have time for this. Now is Alex awake or not?" Scott asked.

"No, and you're not going to wake him," Gibbs replied firmly.

"We're on a schedule. We're going to take care of Alex if that's what you're worried about. The rest of our team is waiting on us so we can go back to London," Daniels explained.

"Alex isn't going with you. He's far too hurt to be moved and on top of that he just really doesn't want to go," Gibbs said laying it all out.

Both men were momentarily stunned by this.

"He has to go. If he doesn't he'll be killed. He's a bloody idiot if he doesn't," Ben said slowly.

"My team is going to going to handle it," Gibbs assured.

"You're Navy cops! This is completely out of your jurisdiction," Scott exclaimed.

"I want to talk to Alex. He has no idea what he's doing," Ben said looking determinedly at Alex door.

"I'm not going to let you upset him. This kid obviously needs help and unlike you two; Me and my team are not going to look the other way as this happens to him," Gibbs replied accusingly.

Alex's door then opened and Ziva's head appeared in the doorway.

"Gibbs, Alex is awake. He overheard your conversation and wants to see them." She explained.

Gibbs considered this and it seemed that these men would not leave until they had talked to Alex and heard that he didn't want there help from his own mouth. And on top of that Gibbs wanted them to see just how bad Alex was injured. Maybe that would tell them just how wrong this was.

"Fine," Gibbs said motioning them to follow him into Alex's room.

They walked in the room and Gibbs saw Daniels and Marciel visibly stiffen as they took in the sight of the boy laying in the hospital bed.

"Hey there, Alex," Daniels said quietly.

"Ben," Alex greeted weakly.

"You look like hell, kid." Wolf blurted out.

"Thanks, Wolf," Alex said sarcastically.

"We uh, heard you weren't coming with us?" Ben asked lightly.

Alex looked over at Gibbs who watched him calmly, nodding encouragingly, letting him know silently that this was the best thing for him.

"No, I'm not," He confirmed quietly.

Ben gave a frustrated sigh, "Alex, you have to realize that going with us is the safest place for you."

"That's where you're wrong. If I go with you I'll wind up dead. I'm tired of letting MI6 use me. This is me taking control of my life again," Alex replied.

"Cub, you're being ridiculous. These Navy cops can't protect you. If SCORPIA comes back for you, and we all know they will, these people won't be able to stop it," Wolf said not caring that the people he was belittling were right in the room.

"I'll take my chances with them," Alex assured with a cough.

Now it was Wolf who let out a frustrated sigh, "We don't have time for this. If he wants to do something stupid, let him. But when he comes up dead because he decided to trust these cops I don't wanna hear anything about how it's our fault!" Wolf said moving over to the door.

"These cops have taken better care of me this week than MI6 or the SAS has all _year._ That's why I'm not going with you lot. And you can tell Blunt that I'm done. Jack's home and in a coma thanks to MI6's lack of security on a _salad, _so he can't wave her visa in my face anymore," Alex said, his voice becoming more ragged, along with his panting and obviously pained breathing.

"You are upsetting him. I think it is time you left," Ziva said, standing up.

"I think if Alex refuses to go with you, your presence is no longer needed," Gibbs said to Wolf.

"What? Has NCIS decided that they'd want to use him for their own gain so you've tricked the kid into thinking that you care?" Wolf accused.

Gibbs' anger flared up immediately, "NCIS does not exploit children for their own gain, and especially not in the condition Alex is in now. I'm getting Alex out of the life he's been thrown into." He bit out.

Ben ignored their fighting and tried one more time, "Alex, listen to me if you stay here MI6 will not be able to protect you anymore. You will be in a very dangerous spot."

"Ben, I've been in a dangerous spot since the day I met Alan Blunt. I'm staying here," Alex said more calmly.

Ben let out another sigh then nodded, "I hope you know what you're doing, Alex." He then walked to the door with Wolf and stopped and turned to Gibbs.

He pulled out a card and handed it to the older man, "This is my mobile number. If he needs help with anything give me a call."

Gibbs wavered a moment before pocketing the card gratefully.

Then Ben Daniels turned back to Alex one last time, "Alex, can I ask you a question?"

Alex looked at the man and nodded warily, unsure about what the man was about to ask him.

"On Dragon Nine, I shot a man that you seemed to know. And it's been bugging me for awhile. Who was he?" He asked.

Alex's face became guarded as he relived that day vividly in his head. He also noticed that everyone's eyes were locked on him. Ziva and Gibbs were a bit confused but they were listening intently anyways.

"His name was Ash. And, uh, he was my Godfather," Alex said quietly, trying to shrug it off.

Gibbs turned to Ben Daniels swiftly ready to give them man hell.

But Daniels' face was locked on Alex's his eyes wide with surprise.

"Oh, God. Alex, I had no idea...," He stuttered.

"What? No, Ben you don't understand. And I really don't feel like getting into it. Just know that you did me a huge favor in shooting Ash. Saved me from having to do it," Alex said, shrugging back down into his bed, preparing to sleep.

Ben looked perplexed as Wolf ushered him out of the room, leaving Gibbs and Ziva alone with the half- conscious boy.

"You had a godfather?" Ziva asked lightly.

"Ash was a bastard. That's all you need to know," He said angrily. He refused to go into this, he didn't care how safe he felt with these people he was not going to tell them about Ash. It was far too fresh in his mind to begin opening up about it. This was his problem, he was grateful enough that these people were going to try to help him with MI6, he didn't see any need to bother them with his messed up past.

Gibbs saw the anger radiating off the injured boy and immediately backed off... For now. He would drill questions out of Alex when he was better and a lot less angry.

"It's okay. We don't have to talk about it now. What I want to know is why you called that man Wolf and why he called you Cub?" Gibbs reasoned, letting the other matter drop.

Alex's anger subsided some as the subject shifted, but he hadn't missed Gibbs' use of the word 'now'. That told him they would obviously pick back up on this particular topic soon.

"Right before I was sent on my first mission, I was sent to Brecon Beacons to train with the SAS. Wolf was the leader," Alex explained.

"No offense, but he did not seem to like you all that much," Ziva observed.

Alex smirked a bit before his face faltered and winced in pain. Gibbs knew the boy would need sleep soon. The questions would have to wait for when he was able to stay awake without pain for more than ten minutes.

"He wasn't all that thrilled to have a child on his team at the time, but we ended on good terms, I helped him in a way and later down the road he helped me," Alex said.

"Hit by a train?" Gibbs asked, eyebrows raised with a somewhat incredulous smile.

Alex gave a small sigh, "Those two can't keep anything to themselves. I wasn't really _hit_ I just...Sorta...grazed it in a way," Alex said trying to explain it the best he could through his sleepy haze.

Gibbs nodded, "Quite a year you've had going on, Alex."

Alex nodded, "you don't know the half of it." He muttered, half awake all the while trying to stay awake.

Gibbs noticed and patted his shoulder gently, "Go to sleep."

Soon the teen drifted off into his blissful sleep.

Ziva looked deep in thought, Gibbs soon took notice.

"What are you thinking?" He asked quietly.

"Gibbs, SCORPIA is a very...ruthless organization. How did MI6 manage to get Alex mixed up in this? There has to be a reason why they are after him so bad, it has to be more than him messing up one of their plans," Ziva said eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.

"It's obvious that there's more to Alex that he lets on. We'll get it out of him when he's feeling better, and when he trusts us a bit more," Gibbs reasoned.

Ziva nodded, "You know you're usually not a patient man Gibbs."

Gibbs smiled a bit then answered with a real far off look, "When you have kids Ziva you'll understand that you can't push kids the way you do adults. You push kids they're going to withdraw themselves from you. With kids you have to be patient."

The Israeli seemed to think this over before she nodded slowly in understanding.

Gibbs nodded, as he stood up, "I need coffee."

As they walked out of Alex's room Gibbs walked over to the nurses station

"Anyplace I can get a good cup of coffee?" He asked, smiling at the pretty red- headed nurse.

The nurse gave a flirtatious smile back at him.

"I'll go get you one from the Doctors personal batch. This stuff they serve out to the patients is terrible. You look tired."

"Thanks a lot...Nurse...?" Gibbs hinted.

"Nurse Taylor. But you can call me Cindy.," She replied sweetly.

Gibbs nodded and walked back into Alex's room to find Ziva talking softly to Alex in Hebrew as she ran a hand through his hair. Taken aback by the scene Gibbs bemusedly leaned against the wall as he watched.

Alex was having a nightmare. Ziva must have taken pity on the boy. Gibbs knew she was well out of her comfort zone as she comforted Alex. But Gibbs could see the maternal instincts kicking in. Gibbs could see that if Ziva ever was to get pregnant she would be a fantastic mother. Mossad assassin or not. As Alex began to relax Ziva withdrew her hand and sat back down in her chair, but drawing it closer to the bed, just in case.

"Not bad Miss. David," Gibbs complimented, making his presence known.

Ziva jumped, looking clearly embarrassed, "He, uh, began to have a nightmare and started moving. I didn't want him to bother any of his injuries, so....I..." She trailed off, at loss to say.

Gibbs smiled at his agent, "Good thinking, Ziva." Was all he said, knowing that she would not want a big fuss.

The Israeli nodded and stood up, "I should get back to NCIS. Mcgee and Tony have probably killed each other by now."

Gibbs nodded, "tell DiNozzo to call me later with an update."

She nodded and discreetly gave Alex's hand a squeeze as she walked away, if Gibbs' eye had not been trained by Marine's he would not have caught it.

Now as he was alone with the injured teenager Gibbs wondered just how he was going to get SCORPIA to leave Alex alone. For good.

**A/N- Well to be honest it started off really good then it go a bit sucky at the end. Sorry.**

**And I know some people might be a little put off by Ziva being a little bit 'nice'? But I like to think that since Ziva's been at NCIS she's gotten a bit soft, and I think that Alex would remind her a bit of herself.**

** And I want to apoligize for the lack of 'goodness' of this chapter and the fact that it took so long but just consider this as kind of a filler. It should pick back up soon though.**

** Ideas and helpful suggestions are always welcome, and most of them are used at some point.**

** Let me know how you liked it!**


	14. Chapter 14

Abby went excitedly into Alex's hospital room on the third day of Alex's hospital stay. When she saw Alex was fast asleep she quickly toned herself down as she went over to where Gibbs was sipping a cup of coffee.

"Gibbs! I have great news!" She whispered.

"Abs, Alex is currently heavily medicated not to mention exhausted, he's not going to be waking up anytime soon. Now what is it?," Gibbs said in a normal voice.

"Oh, right sorry. But Gibbs, Jack Starbright has woken up!" Abby said excitedly.

"Alex's guardian?" Gibbs questioned.

"Yep, and apparently she's been awake for awhile. People failed to inform the team that she was awake because she wasn't awake and coherent during the first few days. And the fact that we were all looking for Alex. Now she's awake and talking, and she's really upset that no one has any information for her about Alex," Abby relayed.

"Have you been there already?" He asked.

"No. Tony's outside talking to Mcgee, he's going to sit with Alex while we go see Jack and let her know everything's okay. And Ducky's going to meet us there to talk with Jack's doctor," Abby said decidedly.

"Since when did you become the team leader?" Gibbs asked with a smile as he stood up.

Abby smiled back at him, "Gibbs, you know no one can take your place."

"I don't know I thought I was doing a good job," Tony commented walking in, smiling as tossed Gibbs the keys to the Charger.

* * *

As soon as Abby and Gibbs entered Jack's hospital room at Bethesda the woman attacked them with weak but firm words from her bed.

"What the hell is going on?" Jack asked.

"Ms. Starbright, calm down. We-" Gibbs started.

"No, I will not calm down. I wake up in a hospital being told that I've just woken up from a coma from poisoning, and that no one in this hospital knows where Alex is. I don't think you people understand. Alex is _my_ responsibility, I'm his guardian. And you people are making it damn hard to take care of him," Jack fumed, most of her anger being directed at Gibbs. Mostly because Abby looked like she was about to cry.

"Ms. Starbright-" Gibbs tried again only to be cut off again.

"Jack," She corrected.

"Jack. Alex, has been staying with me until you are back onto your feet. We did lose him, and he's currently in another hospital, but he's healing fast. He'll be okay," Gibbs informed the redhead quickly, knowing their tempers.

"Does he know I'm awake? I want to see him," Jack said firmly.

"Well see what the doctors have to say about that. There's no reason to rush this, you need just as much time to heal as he does," Gibbs explained.

"You don't understand I'm all that Alex has, him being alone in that hospital is not good for him mentally," Jack argued.

"He's not alone, and hasn't been since the start of this. Me or one of my team has been with Alex the whole time," Gibbs replied.

"We've all gotten attached to Alex," Abby chimed in.

Jack's face somewhat softened, "Really? In that case, I suppose I should thank you, and apologize. Even though Alex did wind up getting hurt," Jack said in relief, even though she was still somewhat wary of the situation.

Gibbs turned to Abby, "Abs, why don't you go talk with the Ducky and the doctors about Jack's condition?" he suggested lightly.

Abby must have seen that she wanted some time alone with Jack so she nodded and replied, "You got it, Boss man."

Once the goth was out of the room Gibbs turned his attention to Jack.

"Alex told me about MI6 blackmailing him," He started.

Jack was momentarily shocked by that. Alex didn't normally just blurt things like that out, so he must really trust the man that was sitting before her in the vacant seat beside her bed.

"Then that means he must really trust you. Don't mess that up," Jack ordered quietly.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Gibbs promised.

Jack looked at the man and he could tell that he was sincere, " Yeah, true marines normally keep their promises."

"How did you know I was a marine?"Gibbs inquired.

"Dad's a former marine, you reek of strong coffee, and your stature and tone of voice scream 'Marine'. I can spot one a mile away. Semper Fi, right?" Jack asked with a smug smile.

Gibbs cracked a small smile of his own, " Right."

"But you didn't come here to tell me that you and Alex are buddies, did you?" She asked, getting back on topic.

"No, I didn't. I'm not going to let MI6 get to Alex anymore. Me and my team are going to do everything we can to keep Alex safe from MI6 and SCORPIA," Gibbs explained.

Jack looked at the man for a moment before tears welled up in her eyes, " you're serious?"

"Children should not be in the position Alex is in. We want to help him," Gibbs said.

Gibbs could see the weight that looked like was being lifted off Jack's shoulders as she whispered, "thank you."

Gibbs nodded, "No problem. What I am having trouble with is that Alex is having a real problem opening up about some stuff. Like the topic of his godfather," Gibbs offered as an example.

Jack's face immediately fell, "And I can't say that I blame him, Ash was a huge traitor to Alex and his parents." She explained.

"His parents?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh... You mean you don't know about John Rider?" Jack said, mentally kicking herself for her mistake.

"Alex's father?" Gibbs asked remembering the name from Alex's small file they had been given on the boy.

"Yes, I, uh, don't know how Alex would feel about me telling you this," Jack replied uncertainly, she knew she probably needed to tell Gibbs about Ash and the rest of Alex's haunted past, but she also didn't want Alex to hate her for it.

"Yeah, I understand. But if I'm going to help Alex I need to know about what's been going on in his life, especially his SCORPIA dealings. I can't do that if he's not willing to talk, so if you can talk to him about talking to me or...anyone on the team it would be greatly appreciated," Gibbs replied.

"I'll definitely talk to him. If you're willing to help him it's the least he can do," Jack replied firmly. Gibbs could see that Jack was a great caretaker for Alex, firm and caring.

"I-" Gibbs started just as his phone went off.

"Gibbs," he answered.

_"Boss, we have a problem here,"_ Tony's voice came through the phone.

"Well spit it out, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, standing up his thoughts instantly going to Alex.

_"The CIA is here, they want Alex," _Tony said.

"Don't let them in Alex's room, Tony. I'm on my way," Gibbs said, standing up and walking for the door as he pocketed his phone without another word.

"What's going on?" Jack asked worriedly.

"Nothing to worry about. You just worry about getting better so you can see Alex," Gibbs said as he exited the room in a fury.

He nearly ran out of the hospital to get to the Charger. Once in there Gibbs left angry burn outs at the entrance of Bethesda in a hurry to get to Alex, daring any LEO to pull him over.**(1)**

Alex sat up in his raised bed desperately wishing he could just go back to sleep. He could hear Tony talking angrily with Joe Byrne and one of his agents. Alex was momentarily surprised that Byrne was there himself, he was the Director of the CIA what was he doing here?

Hearing the raised voices becoming louder he had finally had enough.

"Tony!" Alex yelled.

There was a brief silence before Tony's head poked into his room, "yeah? I'm sorry are we being too loud?" he asked pleasantly.

"You might say that. Just...let them in, Tony," Alex said tiredly.

"Sorry, Gibbs said not to. He's on his way though," Tony assured just as his phone rang.

"DiNozzo," Tony greeted much like Gibbs.

He listened for awhile before smiling widely before turning around, holding a finger up to Alex, signaling him to hold on.

He walked out then after a few minutes he saw Tony enter the room again with a huge smile plastered onto his face as he sat down in the chair beside Alex's bed.

"Well?" Alex asked.

"Vance just...persuaded for Byrne to meet with Gibbs at NCIS first," Tony explained.

"How did he managed that?" The teen asked.

"Lets just say they owe Gibbs and Vance a favor or two," Tony said wisely.

Gibbs and Byrne were currently having a staring contest in the conference room as Mcgee, Ziva, and Byrne's agent watched on.

"What do you want?" Gibbs asked finally.

"Alex," Byrne said simply.

"That's not going to happen. He's been injured, not to mention he's the target of a Criminal Organization," Gibbs replied.

"We'll keep our eye out for him. This mission really is something that only Alex can do," Byrne stated.

"I don't care. Get another agent to risk his life. Alex Rider is off limits," Gibbs said angrily. These people just didn't let up.

"This is none of your concern, Agent Gibbs," Byrne warned.

"Alex is my responsibility. If he dies or gets hurt, I'll have to explain that to his bed ridden guardian. So yes, this is my concern," Gibbs replied smoothly, "and whether you like it or not, Alex is still a British citizen. You have no authority over him, even if he's decided to leave MI6. He's simply on a vacation here in DC."

"And he can be made to leave he does not co-operate. And I can assure you, Agent Gibbs, he would do way better with the CIA, who will look out for him, than with MI6 who sends him on a mission and hopes for the best," Byrne said trying to persuade the man.

"You have no valid reason to make Alex leave, now unless you have a reason for being here I suggest you leave, because I think the press would love to here about the CIA's new hobby of exploitation of children," Gibbs replied.

Byrne stared at the Gibbs momentarily with an expression of hatred, "You wouldn't...I would have your job!"

But Gibbs only shrugged, "Go for it." He could see Mcgee and Ziva looked a bit apprehensive at that statement but he ignored them.

Byrne breathed out heavily through his nose before standing up, "I'll be back, Agent Gibbs. Alex is too good at what he does to quit. Whether he works for the CIA or not he will be in the spy business somehow. It's in his blood."

"Yes, and he may have been a great agent, when he was older. You people pulled him into this too early. And now he's sick of you people. He won't work for you people again. Not after what you put him through," Gibbs said dangerously.

"We'll see about that. Tell Alex we do hope he gets better,"

"Good bye, Director Byrne," Gibbs said, strolling out of the conference room without another word.

**A/N- This chapter is way shorter than usual, and for two good reason;**

**There's probably a lot of loopholes in this chapter...I just don't know what they are. I'm not sure about coma patients, how long do they have to stay in the hospital after they've woken up?...and the whole CIA deal probably have a lot of problems with it. But I couldn't find the answers for it on the internet. BUT if it looks like it can be fixed in the next chapter, tell me and I'll make the correction.**

**I've waited tooooo long to post another chapter. Mostly because I had no idea what to do next. I mean, I kinda have an idea for the story in the future I'm just having a problem...getting it there. But it'll happen just bear with me :)**

**(1)- Has anyone else noticed that when Gibbs breaks traffic laws there's never a police officer to pull him over? Do they have like a sticker in their window that says that they're NCIS? Lol I've always wondered about that**

**And I want to thank everyone that kept sending me words reviews of encouragement, they really made me work harder and probably got his chapter out quicker than it would've if I had gotten none.**

** It's kinda just a filler. More soon though, again sorry for the delay. Hopefully my writers block is gone. ;) **

** Enjoy and Review! **


	15. Chapter 15

The NCIS team crept silently into Alex's room. Abby was helping Jack, who was leaning on her, still weak from her coma ordeal. She had been released into Ducky's care since she had already been awake for so long. Jack had convinced the team not to tell Alex she was awake to surprise him and to make sure he wouldn't try to leave to go see her.

Abby and Jack had become close friends since they had talked. Both of their personalities were almost in sync, with the exception of Jack and her temper.

Jack slowly approached Alex's bed, who had fallen asleep watching _Summer School_**(1)**, an old eighties movie.

Jack smiled as she sat on the edge of the bed and began to shake Alex awake, taking in all the bruises, cuts, and small fever as she did.

"Believe it or not he is getting better," Ducky added lightly right as Alex groaned lowly but not wake up.

"Hey come on, Al'! Did you really not miss me at all?" Jack asked.

Alex's eyes then fluttered open and looked to the source of the loud talking.

It took the tired boy a moment to register the what he was seeing. His eyes soon went wide with realization.

"Jack?" He whispered, sitting up onto an elbow.

"Surprise, kiddo!" Jack said, wrapping him in a careful hug.

The team smiled as they saw Alex smile, something they hadn't seen the boy do in awhile, and hug Jack back as tightly as his weakened body possibly could.

"Jack, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to get hurt, this is all my fault. I should've been more careful," Alex whispered miserably.

Jack suddenly pulled out of the tight hug.

"Now don't start that. This is not your fault. The blame rests entirely on Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones' shoulders. Every bit of it. Don't start making yourself sicker, with your guilt trips. I'm fine," Jack replied, though Alex could see that she was just as bit as tired as he was, "now, how do you feel?"

"Tired of being in this hospital for one," Alex grumbled.

"Well don't go wandering around this place like you did last time you were admitted to the hospital for a long period of time. I cannot be held responsible for what I'll do to you if you go off and get yourself kidnapped again. Like the time you were kidnapped _while_ your supposed to be bed ridden in a hospital from a shot to the chest," Jack reminded.

"You were kidnapped when you were supposed to be recuperating from a gunshot wound? Kid, you're just a barrel of trouble, aren't you?" Tony said, finally making the rest of the teams presence known.

"You have no idea," Jack replied, getting up and sitting down in the vacant chair beside Alex's bed to rest, "there was a boy that Alex had come to know while he was in the hospital. And a bunch of men were planning on kidnapping the boy. Alex decided to play hero, and made them think that he was the boy they planned to take. They took him and nearly killed him."

"Hey, _he_ is right here!" Alex cried, his face turning a fantastic shade of red.

"Yes, and I can't believe you haven't told them all of this already! Alex, they're trying to help you which they can't do if they don't know exactly what it is they're dealing with," Jack said tiredly.

Alex looked guiltily away from Jack and the team, knowing that his friend was right.

Tony sensed the boy's discomfort and tried to lighten the mood a bit.

"Yeah, come on, Alex! We want to hear all about your hair raising adventures," he said trying to lighten the mood.

Alex looked gratefully at Tony, "I honestly wouldn't know where to start."

"It's all the same, my dear boy. You need your rest at the moment. Your exciting stories can and will wait until you get quite a bit of rest in Gibbs' nice homely establishment," Ducky said as he entered the room with the doctor in tow.

"You mean I can go home?....I mean leave?" Alex said once again messing up.

"Yes, Gibbs' house is close enough to the nearest hospital so if we need medical assistance it will be provided fairly quickly. And of course you will be under my watchful eye,"Ducky explained with a smile.

"And we were really only keeping you in here until your chest tube was removed. Now that it's gone you can leave as long as you follow Dr. Mallard's instructions to the letter, that and I seem to think that my younger patients tend to heal better when they're not stuck in a hospital and instead in a place they feel comfortable in," the doctor replied in a cheerful voice.

"And you will be going to see Doctor Brad Pitt in a few days, to check your respiration's clearly," Ducky replied.

Alex looked to Jack for explanation. To his understanding, 'Brad Pitt' was the actor in his uncle's favorite movie 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith.' Jack only shrugged, just as confused as he was, even Ziva's brow furrowed at the statement.

But their confusion seemed to go unnoticed as the Doctor replied, "Ah, yes, I've read a bunch of his books. A very intelligent man."

"Brad Pitt?" Jack finally exasperatedly asked.

Everyone chuckled at their confusion.

"Not the actor, no relation either. I certainly got a kick out of it when I heard the name. He's a respiratory doctor at Bethesda, one of the best," Tony said knowingly.

Alex vaguely picked up on the statement, especially the 'respiratory doctor' part, but he wisely kept his mouth shut since Tony didn't mention that he had the plague during his visit to see this 'Dr. Pitt.

"So you can see that you'll be in capable hands, Alex, otherwise you would not be moving from that bed. And you're body is still painfully bruised and battered so I suggest extra bed rest. And I'll prescribe some painkillers for you because I have a feeling you're gonna need 'em," Dr. Bensting stated as a nurse came in with a wheelchair and Alex's discharge papers.

* * *

"Alright Boss, Alex is set up in the guest room and Ducky's making sure he's comfortable," Tony said, smiling at Jack as he bounded down the stairs.

Jack was seated in Gibbs' recliner, smiling gratefully at Tony.

"Gibbs, I don't know how to thank you for doing this," Jack said.

"No need, Jack. We're all happy to help," Tony answered for Gibbs, perching himself on the edge of Jack's seat.

Gibbs ignored Tony's flirting and sat on the sofa across from Jack.

"I know you're probably wanting to get in touch with your family but-" He started.

Jack's eyes widened dramatically, "Oh my God, my parents! Do they know what happened? Please say no." She pleaded.

The team exchanged questioning looks with each other.

"Did anyone call her family?" Gibbs growled at the lack of professionalism the team was exhibiting.

Tony, being the Senior Field Agent, began to stutter through an excuse.

"It's all for the best, really. My family doesn't know about MI6, and Alex and I wanna keep it that way. I'll give her an excuse as to why I was in a coma when I go home," Jack said decidedly.

"Which brings us to our next discussion. We'll deal with the people who are after Alex one step at a time, MI6 and the CIA need to be dealt with first," Gibbs said, addressing everyone.

"If the CIA cannot find a way to make Alex do their mission they will find a way to make him leave America and go to MI6 who will more than gladly loan him to the CIA," Ziva pointed out.

"Jack's here though," Mcgee argued.

"Yes, but if we use that and they do managed to get Alex back to England they'll more than likely make Jack stay here. And God only knows what would happen to Alex after that," Tony answered.

"And to be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing. Yes, I can raise Alex, but as far as his guardianship? I'm lost," Jack said miserably.

"Then maybe we should consider a different guardian for Alex," Ducky suggested as he ascended the stairs.

"What?" Jack asked with a wary glare.

But Ducky only smiled, unruffled by her accusatory tone.

"Pardon me, my dear girl. I only meant that if someone with more authority in the agency was to take guardianship over Alex, it would end this whole debacle. I would never dream of taking Alex away. Just someone to legally protect him from government agencies," He explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry Dr. mallard. You'll have to excuse me, I get more threats to have Alex taken away than you would believe. How's Alex?" Jack asked, blushing.

"Quite alright. And please call me Ducky. Alex is still pretty sore, but everything seems to be on the mend," Ducky assured, "He's sleeping at the moment. The poor boy's still exhausted."

"Gibbs! My cousin works in child services, she can probably get us whatever we need," Abby said excitedly, "I just need-"

"Whoa Abs, calm down. Lets take this back a step. Jack, do you have a problem with this?" Gibbs asked.

"Of course not, as long as it helps Alex. And if he agrees to it of course. I'm not going to do something that he's not comfortable with," Jack answered immediately. She didn't care who had guardianship, as long as she had Alex.

"Well if he does agree to it, who's going to take care of him?" Tony asked.

Everyone on the team looked at Tony then rolled their eyes at Tony's lack of seeing the obvious.

"Who do you think, Tony?" Mcgee asked.

"Yes, Tony, did you think you would be suitable for taking care of a teenager?" Ziva asked through a laugh.

"Hey! I would be great! Besides I've always wanted a little brother," Tony replied indignantly.

But after the warning glare he was receiving from Gibbs Tony relented, "But, of course the Boss would be a better choice obviously."

Gibbs nodded, "If Alex agrees I'll take guardianship." Gibbs knew that this could be a career ender and he wouldn't end one of his team's bright future when he could simply return to retirement.

"Gibbs are you _sure_ you want to do this? I mean you _do_ barely know Alex," Jack asked again.

"I know enough to know that he needs help," He replied simply.

"Don't worry Jack! The Bossman is a sucker for kids, he'll get Alex out of this mess," Abby said so confidently about her boss that Jack felt some of the stress she had kept for the last year being let out.

"We'll when my mom finds out that I was in a coma she's going to insist on making me stay with her. But Alex is really lucky he found you guys. I'm almost positive he'd be dead if he hadn't," Jack said in a small sad voice.

"We'll get a team to keep watch on your parents house until we get everything straightened out. And we'll try to keep it as discreet as possible," Gibbs replied but his gaze was upstairs.

"No worries, Jack. We'll help Alex," Tony said standing up, "Now who's hungry? I feel like a pizza."

"Surprise, surprise," Mcgee whispered to Ziva.

"I heard that," Tony replied.

"Phone's in the kitchen," Gibbs said standing up.

"Really, Boss? We can eat here?" Tony asked surprised.

"We're all here, we're all hungry, why not? Jack, why don't you rest on the couch until the food gets here" Gibbs suggested, heading for the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Mcgee asked.

"Well usually when people walk towards stairs it usually means that they're going to go up or down stairs, Mcgee. Guess which one I'm doing?" Gibbs asked dryly.

Mcgee nodded sheepishly and walked into the kitchen along with the rest of the team as Jack gratefully laid down on the offered piece of furniture.

Gibbs walked slowly up to Alex's door to find it slightly ajar. Sliding it open more he found the teen sleeping peacefully. Or so it would seem.

"I know you're awake, Alex," Gibbs stated with a smirk.

Alex sighed slightly and opened his eyes, sitting up as best he could.

"How did you know?" He asked.

"I saw your shadow coming from the stairs. Just barely though," Gibbs replied.

Alex only nodded.

"Why aren't you asleep? You need it," Gibbs said lightly.

"I was. Ducky started telling me a story about his time a Edinburgh and talked about some big long medical term that I couldn't even begin to pronounce, and I dozed off. I hope he isn't upset," Alex said vaguely.

"I doubt it. Ducky likes to talk, about anything. Even when people aren't listening. He even talks to the dead bodies down in autopsy," Gibbs assured.

Alex looked at Gibbs for a moment to see if he was joking on the last part, but didn't see any signs to tell him otherwise.

"Did you hear what we were talking about downstairs?" Gibbs asked wisely.

Alex turned away from Gibbs and nodded, "yeah, some."

"I want you to know that we're not going to do anything that you don't wanna do here. This will be a big change for you, you'd be leaving a lot behind. But you wouldn't lose Jack, I don't think anything in the world could keep her from you. But I don't think she'd feel comfortable in this house," Gibbs said.

"I know. But this does seem like a good plan. But do you think that it would work?" Alex asked.

"It sure would be easier. If you're in London MI6 think they can pressure you by threatening Jack, and if you're here the CIA is going to threaten to send you home so MI6 can have you. And the CIA and I've butted heads before, they know I mean business," Gibbs assured.

"I don't want you to feel that you have to do this, Gibbs. I mean this isn't just a change for me, it's huge for you too. Are you sure this is something you wanna do?" Alex asked.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Gibbs pondered, " yes, I'm sure. I told you I was going to help and I am. I want to. And... you fit in here. The team's really likes to you."

Alex took this in for awhile as he and slipped in a small silence.

"So what do you say?" Gibbs asked after quite awhile had passed.

"Well I-"

**A/N- And if that's not a cliffhanger I don't know what is!**

**(1)- Okay, this is like the best movie in the world and not just because it has the best actor in the world in it (Mark Harmon aka-Gibbs). It's a truly great movie and you get to see Mark act all goofy.(Not that him playing Gibbs isn't amazing though). Or this might just be because I'm love all 80's movies. But you should definitely check it out. **

**Oh, and on another movie note, the movie Cabin by the Lake is also a great movie! And THAT's not just because Michael Weatherly's in it either lol.**

**And now back to MY author's note that is actually ON topic- I hope this doesn't seem to OOC but I thought it was a nice twist.**

**But if you guys are real dead set against Gibbs being Alex's guardian and if you think it's too OOC I MIGHT be able to not go with it in this direction....maybe. But I really like the idea lol.**


	16. Chapter 16

Alex's voice trailed off halfway through the reply. This was a lot to take in. He knew he would be giving up a lot. He would lose his home, his school, and especially his best friend. But then again Gibbs was offering him a second chance to start over. To leave the whole spying ordeal behind. The kids in his school thought he was a bad kid, the only thing he would regret was leaving the home he had lived in his whole life and, of course, leaving Tom.

Gibbs noticed the boy's internal battle and shrugged, "why don't you give it some thought for the rest of the day? We'll talk later."

"Thanks," Alex replied gratefully.

Gibbs patted the boy's leg and stood up, "you hungry? Tony ordered pizza, though you really should get some sleep."

"I've been sleeping since I woke up in the hospital," Alex argued as he threw back the bed covers and swung his legs slowly over the side of the bed.

Gibbs smirked slightly at the boy's stubbornness as he helped him up.

"Well when Ducky sees your up he's gonna have my head."

"I thought you were a Marine?" Alex teased.

"Not even I would go against Ducky's bedside manner," the older man replied as he watched Alex carefully as the boy started to descend the stairs, wanting to make sure the boy didn't falter and fall down them.

The doorbell rang just as they reached the last few steps and Tony's voice echoed from the kitchen, "Food's here! Probie, go get it!"

"You want it, you go get it!"Came Mcgee's quick reply.

"The both of you quit yelling! Jack and Alex are trying to rest!" Ziva ordered.

Alex smiled as he saw Gibbs roll his eyes.

They walked into the kitchen and Gibbs barked, "DiNozzo, get the food."

"On it, Boss," was Tony's immediate reply as he stood up and left.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Ziva asked, looking at the boy.

Alex hid a wince as he sat down at the table with her, "I couldn't sleep. And I'm hungry." He answered.

"Well then you're in luck. You're about to enjoy the best pizza on the planet," Tony said as he entered the room carrying three pizza boxes.

Gibbs got the plates and everyone fixed their plates and sat down at the table.

"Well, isn't this nice? We're all sitting at the table for lunch," Tony gushed.

"Tony, eat. What happened to Ducky and Abby?" Gibbs asked, finally making their absence known.

"Ducky was called back to NCIS and Abby had a bowling match," Mcgee explained.

"Abby bowls?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, in a nun league," Tony said through a mouthful of food.

"Well Abby is just full of surprises, isn't she?" Alex observed.

"You don't know the half of it. Did she tell you she sleeps in a coffin?" Tony asked with a smile.

"No," Alex said in confusion, "a real one?"

"Yep, all the way down to the handles for the pall bearers. Of course, Mcgee would know more about it since he's apparently done more than _sleep_ in the-"

Tony got cut off by a sharp jab in the stomach by Mcgee and a headslap from Gibbs.

"OW!" He cried.

"Tony!" Mcgee growled.

"DiNozzo, what have I told you about spreading rumors? Mcgee, rule twelve," Gibbs reprimanded the both of them firmly.

"What's rule twelve?" Alex asked, remembering the rules Gibbs had talked about earlier.

"Rule twelve; Never date a co-worker," Tony recited automatically.

"Ah, I see. I can also see how that could be a good rule," Alex said, smirking slightly at Tony who gave him a cocky smile.

"Alex, please don't yolk him on," Ziva pleaded.

"Egg him on, Zee-vah," Tony corrected, playing with her name.

"Alex, why don't you take this time to tell us a little bit more about yourself?" Gibbs asked. He knew the boy was going to feel uncomfortable talking about it, but the curiosity was really starting to overwhelming him. The teens past was just too much of a question. Jack had let it slip that Alex's father also had something to do with this and ever since then it was nagging him. He had to know.

Alex shifted as he felt everyone's eyes on him, "I don't know where to start."

Gibbs grabbed another piece of pizza and suggested, "Well, why don't you try talking about your uncle? Or your Godfather? Or your dad?"

Alex's eyes snapped up to Gibbs, "you know about my dad?"

"Jack accidentally let it slip that your father was somehow involved in this. She didn't explain why or how," Gibbs answered.

"Oh. Well I suppose Ian is a more appropriate place to start and I'll work my way up to the rest," Alex said wearily.

The team felt vaguely bad about making the boy bring up his past, knowing how much they hated bringing up their own past.

_"He needs to vent a bit about his family,"_ Gibbs justified.

"Ian didn't tell me anything about his real job. He told me he was an overseas banker. And I also didn't realize that he was secretly training me to be a spy ever since I could talk. He was killed by an assassin on a mission. Then, Blunt realized my 'training' and forced me into completing Ian's mission. I've done seven missions after that," Alex summarized.

"You've done eight missions just this year?" Ziva asked.

Alex nodded.

"That's...a lot in just a years span of time, even for a top rate spy," Ziva informed.

"Yeah, on my first mission I came across my uncles killer...then again-" Alex started only to be interrupted once more.

"Again?" Mcgee interrupted.

"Yeah, the on my first mission he saved me from getting killed. Then I saw him again while I was on a vacation with a friend of mine. Her dad nearly died when the assassin blew up the house we were staying in."

"Her?" Tony questioned, eyebrows raised.

"Assassin?" Gibbs asked.

"Huh?" Alex asked Gibbs, carefully avoiding Tony's question.

"You keep saying assassin. You don't know the man's name?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh, sorry I didn't realize I was doing it," Alex replied. When he talked to Jack or Tom about these sorts of things he tried to leave out as many names as possible. He didn't feel safe using names.

"The assassin's name was Yassen Gregorovich," Alex replied.

Ziva's head popped up sharply at the name, "Gregorovich? Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah," Alex replied confidently.

"Ex- boyfriend?" Tony questioned with a smirk.

Alex winced at the thought.

"No! I don't know him...personally. He's just a well known name in Mossad. He's very...good at his job. I remember a few years ago I was working a OP in Russia and he was there. He's a very ruthless man. I'm surprised you managed to escape him, Alex. You must be better at your job than I expected," Ziva commented, her gaze far away.

"Not exactly. Every time I had a run in with him he had every opportunity to kill me, but he refused each time," Alex said.

"And why is that?" Tony asked.

"He said he didn't kill children, but apparently it was deeper than that," Alex replied setting his pizza aside, "He knew my father. My father made Yassen Gregorovich that man he was. With help from SCORPIA that is."

"What? You're saying your father was a assassin?" Gibbs asked. This was not what he was expecting at all.

But Alex shook his head, "No, my father was a double agent for MI6. He trained Yassen while he was there. Yassen thought that my dad was really an assassin and he told me that my dad worked for SCORPIA right before he died, and I believed him. I went and found SCORPIA and I joined them."

The whole team looked at Alex with wide eyes.

"You're telling us that you found a Criminal Organization that could've _killed_ you because an assassin, that killed you uncle, said he knew your father and that he was a killer?" Gibbs asked loudly. He couldn't help it, this kid was just too harebrained. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, Alex reminded him a lot of himself when he got caught up in some revenge scheme. And that was more than a little bad.

Alex's defenses immediately went up, "Hey, I know I didn't know the man but I needed answers. And MI6 didn't seem to reliable at the time. An assassin spent his last breaths to tell me that my father was a killer and for me to 'Find SCORPIA and I would find my destiny'. I'm sorry if I took that to heart."  
"Yassen's dead?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah, the man he was working for at the time shot him after he refused to kill me and Sabina," Alex said offhandedly.

"Sabina?" Tony asked immediately.

"The girl I was talking about earlier," Alex replied, rolling his eyes. "_Mention a girl and Tony goes nuts," _he thought as saw that Tony looked more than a little upset that this girl was not his age.

"Keep going Alex, what happened next?" Gibbs urged, effectively shutting Tony up.

"Julia Rothman was the head of SCORPIA and she showed me a video of my dad getting shot by MI6, but it was a hoax, not that I knew it at the time. And then she asked me to join SCORPIA. I was trained by SCORPIA for about two weeks. Long story short they told me their plans to kill millions of people I stopped it, and Blunt told me the truth about my father. Then I went to leave MI6 headquarters and there was a SCORPIA sniper outside and they shot me," Alex finished.

"You were sniped?" Gibbs asked, hiding a wince.

"Yeah, I was stepping off the curb at the moment I was shot so the aiming was off. I got lucky," Alex answered, feeling the slight twinge in his chest.

"Yes, you are," Ziva replied softly.

"What about you godfather?" Tony asked.

Alex sighed, he was really hoping they were going to forget about that little part.

"Apparently being a double agent was popular back in the day. Because my godfather was one too. He was my dad's best friend. He was even the best man at their wedding. But he was a double agent for SCORPIA. And when my mum**(1)** got pregnant with me, my dad said he wanted to retire. And when my dad got out of the double agent business, SCORPIA found out about it that he was a spy. They ordered Ash to kill my parents. So, when they were on a plane, heading to our new cozy life, Ash planted a bomb on the plane," Alex said, his face becoming more readable with each sentence.

"Why weren't you on the plane with them?" Ziva asked.

"I apparently had a ear infection and had to stay behind with a nanny until I was fit for travel," the boy replied.

Everyone at the table could sense that Alex was still highly pissed about the whole ordeal.

"Alex, that's...horrible," Mcgee finally voiced for the team.

"Yeah. Look, I'm more tired than I thought, can we continue this later?" Alex asked quietly. Right now all he could think about was getting out of that room with all of those pitying eyes.

As he stood up he noticed Gibbs doing the same, "Gibbs, I can handle it."

"I'm just making sure you make up to the bed okay. If you fall, Ducky will give us _both_ a tongue lashing," Gibbs reasoned.

As they made their way to Alex's room the boy looked sideways at Gibbs.

"Having second thoughts?" He asked.

Gibbs looked over at him with raised eyebrows, "about what?"

"Helping me," The teen answered as he eased himself back down into the soft bed.

"Why would I have second thoughts?" The former marine asked.

"You seemed pretty upset at how...reckless I was about finding the truth about my dad," Alex asked, resting his tired eyes as Gibbs eased himself down into the chair beside the boys bed.

"I don't like it when my team takes unnecessary chances that could hurt themselves."

"But I'm not on your team, and I didn't even know you when I went to find out about my dad," Alex defended himself.

"No, but you did when you went off and left when Yokov gave you that letter," Gibbs said. He was planning tearing Alex a new one for that stunt. Gibbs was meant to be protecting Alex, something that he couldn't do if Alex was going to run off and hand himself over.

"I didn't have a choice-"

"No, you had a choice. You always have a choice here. And if you ever pull a something like that again, that headslap you got in the hospital is going to be nothing compared to what it can be. Ask DiNozzo."

"I couldn't just stand by and watch as you got hurt for something that's obviously my fault! Jack already got hurt because of me, I couldn't handle ruining yours and the teams life also. I did what I had to do," Alex said stubbornly.

"Alex, if you think that this is the first time I've been threatened by someone, then you are sadly mistaken. You're not the only one that's pissed off people. I can handle myself just fine, and on top of that, I have my team watching my six. I don't need you to protect me. You're a kid, it's time for someone to protect you. The team and I have your six now. If something like this happens again I want you to tell us. No matter how how much you think you shouldn't." Gibbs replied calmly. Which was a mask, inside himself Gibbs was boiling with rage.

_"This kid thinks that he has to protect me."_ He thought. This was _not_ how things were supposed to be. Kids are meant to be kids, not trained spy's. If someone had even _thought_ about putting Kelly Gibbs through this he would be shooting first and asking questions never.

Alex could sense the sincerity of Gibbs' tone. He wanted to be of help to Alex, no matter what.

"You're right. I know I should have told you, but I still wasn't all that sure about you and the team. But when I woke up in that hospital and you all were there...just waiting for me to wake up, I realized that you _really_ did care. And now, that you're actually willing to take me in to keep me safe...I...I trust you, Gibbs. The team too. It just took me awhile to really get that, I guess," Alex said, turning his head away in embarrassment.

He sounded cheesy and he knew it, but that was really the only way he could think of the explain it. When he woke up in the hospital and every single one of the team was standing in his room, he felt like he was really being worried about. Sure, Jack worried enough about him but with Gibbs and the team he felt he could tell them things and they would be able to handle it. With Jack he was always afraid of scaring her.

"That's good to hear, Alex. I have a feeling that what you told us today is only half of what you've been through. We'll talk more later though, you need sleep," Gibbs said standing up to leave. He had noticed the boy's tired expression at the table.

Alex could only manage a exhausted nod as he sunk down lower into the covers.

"Let me know if you start hurting too bad," Gibbs said as he went out the door.

He was only met with Alex's slow even breathing as the boy drifted off into a comfortable sleep.

**(2)*******************************************************************************

"When are we going to grab the boy, sir?"

"Not for awhile. I want _Alex_ and _agent_ Gibbs to let their guard down. Then we'll grab them both," Eric Yokov informed his agents.

"Both? We're taking the Navy cop too?" One of them asked.

Yokov nodded, "If Gibbs is so adamant about helping Rider, we'll show him and his team just what they got themselves into."

**A/N- Well Gibbs and Alex had their first little dispute and Yokov's lurking in the shadow for awhile. Not too good.**

**(1)-Yeah, I know I'm not British...But Alex is and I felt weird writing 'mom' when he would say it 'mum'.**

**(2)- Sorry, I had to re-update this because the page break thing didn't work AGAIN and it looked reallly confusing!**

**Let me know what you think! And if there's anything you really want to see Alex tell Gibbs or the team about let me know. Like a particular part from a mission or something. I'm only asking because I don't want to miss anything good.**

**Annnnd as always thanks to my awesome Beta ChakramVampire for once again helping me keep my information straight!**


	17. Chapter 17

Night descended quietly on the the Gibbs house. Almost as quietly as the agents silently monitoring the house.

Tony and Ziva were alternating watch outside in the Charger, that was parked a bit back from the house at a safe distance. Mcgee and Gibbs were keeping things under control inside the house. And Alex had slept peacefully in his room for the remainder of the day, which Ducky had assured it was the best thing for him at the moment when he came over to check on the boy for the night.

Jack was taken safely to her parents house with Balboa's team being assigned to discreetly keep watch on the house.

It wasn't until around 0130 until Gibbs heard the light footfall ascending down the stairs. He heard Mcgee talking lightly with Alex so he didn't worry too much about something being wrong.

He didn't stop in his work on his boat when he heard the creak of wood on the basement stairs. He knew Mcgee wouldn't dare leave his post so he assumed Alex was about to grace him with his presence. The older man smiled lightly as he realized that this was Alex's first time down in this part of the house.

"Uhh...Gibbs?" Alex asked uncertainly. He didn't really want to disturb the man but he had woken up and was getting pretty restless with nothing to do upstairs.

"Yeah?" Gibbs asked, but he already knew about what was about to come out of the teen's mouth.

"Is that a boat?" Alex asked predictably.

"Sure is," Gibbs answered, motioning to the teen that it was okay for him to come down the wooden stairs.

Alex slowly made his way down the stairs in his black drawstring pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt.

"Are you expecting a flood?" He asked with a cheeky smile.

"Like I haven't heard that one before," Gibbs said humorously, but with a soft smirk.

"So, you have no television, no computer. Is this what you do in your spare time?" The blonde asked, walking around to admire the craftsmanship.

Gibbs shrugged, "Pretty much. It helps me think."

Though it struck Gibbs that Alex was probably bored out of his mind in this house with none of the electronics that he was used to. Hell, the kid didn't even have his cell phone to talk to his friends. Gibbs also took into account that the boy hadn't complained once about not having any of the things he had mentioned. He made a mental note to ask Mcgee about what could be done about that later.

"So, how many have you made?" Alex asked, knowing that the man's work was too skilled for this to be his first.

"Lost count," came the truthful reply.

"What do you do with them once their finished?" Alex asked, running his fingertips gently over the wood surface of the hull.

"Burned most of 'em. Gave one of them to my god-daughter," Gibbs said before mentally cringing at bringing up the subject of god parents again.

Though Alex didn't seem to make much of it.

"My uncle took me sailing once. We took my friend Tom with us on vacation that year. He got seasick and threw up on Ian's shoes," Alex reminisced with a smile.

"Sounds like, Mcgee," he muttered.

They lapsed into silence for awhile as Gibbs stopped working and leaned against the hull of the boat to gaze at Alex, who was mimicking his stance as he leaned against Gibbs' workshop table.

"I thought about what we talked about earlier," Alex said softly, easing them both into the conversation, breaking their staring contest in the process.

"You don't have to rush into this, Alex. It's okay if you need more time to think," the man assured.

"I have thought about it. And if you're willing to do this then the least I can do is give it a try. That, and I feel bad about obligating Jack to be tied down to me in England. She needs to get on with her life and go back to law school. I know she would never tell me if taking care of me was getting to be too much of a hassle. I know you're the kind of guy that's going to speak his mind. So I'm going to trust you to tell me if it gets to be too much. I don't want to be a burden to you." Alex explained slowly.

"Alex, kids aren't meant to be considered burdens," Gibbs replied, turning back to his work.

"Regular kids, no. But a teenaged spy wanted by a criminal organization? Yeah, I can see a bit of a burden there. Just promise me you'll tell me if it becomes too much?" Alex asked. He didn't see any reason to stay somewhere he wasn't wanted.

"Yeah, okay, I will. But it's not gonna happen," Gibbs agreed.

"We'll see," Alex replied doubtfully. But Gibbs let it go, he didn't feel like starting another fight with the teen again.

Alex watched Gibbs work on his boat with uncertainty. Should he just go back upstairs? Maybe he could keep Mcgee company for awhile, he certainly didn't want to go back to bed at the moment.

Gibbs finally looked over at him and asked, "You hungry? You missed dinner. Ziva cooked."

"No, I'm not that hungry." Alex replied softly.

"Well, in that case grab a sander," Gibbs said simply.

"What? I don't... think that's a good idea. I failed shop class," Alex said trying to make a joke.

"Well then you obviously didn't have the right teacher. Come 'mere," Gibbs said putting the sander in Alex's hand and pulling him toward the boat.

Gibbs stepped beside him and put his hand just under Alex's, "with the grain of the wood." He instructed softly.

Alex was wary at first but with Gibbs' guiding hand under him he slowly became more comfortable, His strokes becoming more broad.

"Hey Gibbs?" Alex asked after a while of silence.

"Yeah?"

"How do you get the boat out of here?"

****

The next few days of Alex's recovery went by pretty fast and with very few complications.

The soreness in his body was slowly starting to slip away, along with the bruises that once littered his body.

Today had been the first time he was able to go outside since he had been rescued, and Alex saw fit to make the most of it. Gibbs had an old basketball net set up, presumably from when his daughter was alive. Tony brought over a basketball and under Ducky's firm warning not to 'over-do' it, he was finally able to stretch his legs. He was surprised at how restless he had become over the past few weeks.

Alex had been shooting hoops for about ten minutes before he felt someone approaching him. He spun around to see Gibbs coming over to him in a pair of shorts and a 'USMC' hoodie.

Gibbs silently gestured to the ball in Alex's hands. Alex tossed it to him and Gibbs trotted up and did a decent lay up. Alex raised his eyebrows, clearly impressed at how good of shape Gibbs was in.

"Do you think you'll feel like going to the Navy Yard for awhile? I can let Tony stay behind with you if you're not feeling that up to it," The older man suggested, grabbing the ball and tossing it back to the teen.

"Sure. Why?" Not that Alex was going to complain, he was glad for any reason to get some air. He shot from an imaginary free throw line, hitting nothing but net. He smiled slightly as something in him refused to let him be shown up by the older man.

"Got some work that needs to be taken care of. That, and the Navy Yard really is safer, and Abby has a little...bed...thing in her lab you can lay down in if you get tired," Gibbs said, grabbing the ball as it bounced repeatedly on the ground.

He shot the ball again and it faltered on the rim for a moment before falling through the net.

Alex nodded and they both walked back up to the house to get ready to head to NCIS.

****

When they got to NCIS Alex was amused to find that Tony, Ziva, and Mcgee were all asleep, in some form, on their desks. Tony had his legs propped up on his desk with his head thrown back against his chair, mouth hanging limply open. Ziva's position was a bit more graceful as she cradled her head on her arms, snoring softly for the moment. And last was Mcgee who had his head laying on his keyboard**, **something Alex was sure Tony would find comical.

But Alex's amused expression quickly morphed into guilt.

"You guys aren't getting much sleep."

"Well, yeah, that's kinda what goes on in a protection detail. Their rotating sleeping shifts. Don't worry about them, they've functioned on worse sleep with this. Their used to it," Gibbs assured.

Though that obviously didn't make Alex feel any better. Gibbs didn't seem to be too worried about it as he went over to DiNozzo's desk and struck his foot against the front of it.

Tony jerked awake shouting incoherently, "the room's clear, Boss!" Before looking confusedly around at his surroundings. Tony's loud wake up caused Mcgee and Ziva to jump awake also, but in a more calm way than Tony.

"Is that so, DiNozzo?" The senior agent said matter-of-factly,

"Going to see the Director," he announced as he herded Alex to his desk to sit down.

Alex sat as Gibbs left and turned his attention back to the team.

"Tony, this is the second time you've woken up shouting out Gibbs' name. Is there something you need to tell me?" Ziva teased with a smile, thinking back to their undercovers operation.

Tony, still upset about his abrupt wake-up call, only glared at his grinning teammates before turning to Alex.

"So, Alex, how is life with our fearless leader?"

"Not too bad. Did you know that he's building a boat in his basement?" Alex asked.

"He's building another one? Gibbs has good craftsmanship, huh?" Tony asked, stretching.

"Yeah, but did he tell you how he gets them out?" Alex asked with a knowing smile.

Every member on team Gibbs turned their attention to the boy cautiously.

"Did he tell you how he gets them out?" Mcgee asked suspiciously.

Alex laughed as all three adults were looking at him, waiting for him to solve the question they've all wanted to know since each member had started their career with Gibbs.**(1)**

Gibbs told Alex that this would more than likely be the humorous reaction.

"Do you know? Really?" Tony asked, a huge smile spreading out on his face, "you gotta tell us."

"Well, that would be telling wouldn't it, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he strolled back in.

"I thought you were going to see the Director, Boss," Tony said sheepishly.

Alex went to stand up as he felt Gibbs' hand on his shoulder.

"Duck, wants to check you out in autopsy, the Director can wait," Gibbs replied.

"Why? I feel fine," Alex said but he allowed Gibbs to lead him to the elevator anyways.

"You've had first hand experience of how seriously Ducky takes his patients health," Gibbs replied as they stepped into the elevator and he hit the button for autopsy.

"But most of Ducky's patients are dead," Alex pointed out.

"Yeah, but the few live ones he takes care of have never died under his care," he said as the elevator dropped, "Ducky's so good at his job, once a dead body came back to life on him."

Alex snorted, "yeah."

Gibbs smiled slightly at the teens disbelief, but shrugged, "no joke."

Alex looked sideways at the older man. Surely he was joking...Right?

The elevator suddenly stopped, the doors dinged and the doors slid smoothly open. Alex and Gibbs stepped out simultaneously.

"Ah, Jethro, I wasn't expecting you down here so soon," Ducky said as he was wrist deep in someone's stomach, "Mr. Palmer would you minds finishing up here?" He asked a curly black haired younger man with glasses.

"Of course, Doctor," he said respectfully, never looking up from the open body.

Gibbs looked over to see Alex tense and slightly pale, looking at the dead body on the autopsy table with a hard look.

Gibbs immediately knew he screwed up, "Alex, are you okay?" He asked turning him away from the corpse.

Alex had a far off look in his eyes, before snapping out of his thoughts to look at Gibbs, "what?"

"I shouldn't have brought you down here," Gibbs stated gruffly. What had he been thinking bringing a child into autopsy? He had never done that before. He assumed that since Alex was okay around dead bodies that he would be okay around an open corpse with Ducky removing body parts from it. He couldn't believe he had made such a mistake, he definitely owed himself a headslap later.

"No, I'm okay. I was just... thinking that's all," Alex said, refusing to let Gibbs and Ducky lead him out of autopsy.

It wasn't the corpse that had bothered him, but the memories. **(2)**

~_**Flashback~**_

_ "For some time now my children have been asking to see a human dissection. Tomorrow morning, at half past nine, you will be brought into the laboratory and we shall open you up and have a look at you. We will not use anesthetic, and it will be interesting to see how long you survive before your heart gives out. And then of course, or course, we shall dissect your heart."_

_ "You're sick!" Alex yelled._

_ "I am a scientist!" Dr. Grief spat the words. "And that is why I am giving you a scientific death. At least in your last minutes you will have been of some use to me."_

_ **~End of Flashback~**_

"About what?" Gibbs asked, snapping Alex out of his thoughts.

Alex figured he would have to tell them about his missions soon, why not now? It wasn't that important, Plus, it wasn't exactly something that Alex wanted to keep buried, he just didn't like bringing up his missions.

"It's nothing, really. On my second mission, the, uh, one where I _grazed_ that train, I got kidnapped by this doctor, Dr. Grief. He was going to kill me because I found out his plan to clone himself to _rule the world." _Even the stiff laid out on the table could sense the sarcasm in Alex's voice when he said 'rule the world.'

"He was going to kill me, but he decided that the best way to do that was by dissection, that way I could be of some use to him before he died. He was going to let his clones watch as he performed the dissection. But he said that he wasn't going to use anesthetic so he could see how long I would last before my heart gave out."

By the time Alex was done with his tale Ducky looked completely livid. The room was silent as Alex finished, even the curly haired man had stopped his work as he heard the story. Gibbs was trying to picture what the boy had described to him, but he was having a hard time doing so. He had seen Ducky perform autopsies before, but certainly never on live people. It made him sick to even think about it, not that he would ever admit that.

Gibbs looked over to Ducky whose face was red as he got out the medical supplied he was going to need to look at the ever diminishing cuts on Alex.

He saw Alex look guiltily at Ducky.

"He's not mad at you." Gibbs assured, nudging Alex's shoulder.

Ducky must have heard his friend's reassurance to the boy because he looked sharply up at Alex.

"No, dear boy, not with you. I'm just surprised at the levels that doctors go to. People trust doctors to use their knowledge to help, not to abuse their power. It's called an oath for a reason!"

As Ducky ranted it seemed to calm him down. The medical examiner prompted the teen to take off his shirt and hop up onto the vacant autopsy table nearest them.

Alex complied easily but still looked uncomfortable. Ducky stuck a thermometer into his mouth, took his blood pressure, and listened to his lungs before moving on to probe his outer injuries.

"Well, lad, you're certainly a quick healer. You healed twice as quick as I had intended. Your temperatures normal and your lungs are almost completely clear. Your cuts and bruises are are nearly gone also. Still a bit sore, though, I presume?" Ducky asked, he had noticed Alex's very slight wince as he hoisted himself onto the table. All evidence of his outburst gone from his tone.

"Yeah, mostly just my ribs though," Alex answered quietly.

"Well, that too should go away in a few days at the rate you're healing," Ducky replied as he gave Alex his shirt back.

The black haired man reappeared and addressed Ducky, "Dr. Mallard, I've finished up the last of the autopsy."

"Thank you, Mr. Palmer. I don't think you've met our young friend yet, this is Alex Rider. Alex, this is our last member of our team," Ducky introduced.**(3)**

Palmer smiled warmly at Alex before sticking his hand out for Alex to shake.

"I'm Jimmy Palmer, Dr. Mallard's assistant."

Alex smiled lightly and shook the man's hand, "I'm Alex."

"Well, if you two are done, I got a stack of cold cases on my desk that need tending to and Abby's dying to see you," Gibbs said to Alex.

Alex nodded and said goodbye before following Gibbs to the elevator to take them to Abby.

****

"Boss, I've gotten all those things you wanted me to get for you," Mcgee said as soon as Gibbs stepped into the bullpen.

Mcgee produced a sleek laptop along with a brand new looking cell phone.

"The laptop is a spare that I had lying around since I got a new one a few months ago. I have an extra wireless modem so Alex can get internet at your house without you having to open a new account. And the phone is also an extra that I had lying around," Mcgee explained as he handed both of the devices and their chargers over the older man.

"This costing you anything extra, Mcgee?" Gibbs asked, since technically he was the one that was going to be taking Alex in it was only fair that Gibbs paid for all of it. And it wasn't like he had many bills anyways.

"No, the wireless connection is already set up in my account, adding an extra computer isn't going to change much. And the extra phone I had was from when me and Sarah shared a plan. We split the bill, but Sarah has recently gotten her own plan. So, instead of ending the contract and having to pay a whole bunch of money to do that I'm just keeping the phone activated until the contracts up. Basically the phones just sitting there, might as well put it to some use," Mcgee explained.

"If you run into any trouble let me know," Gibbs ordered, setting the electronics on his desk as he sat down, not that he had understood a word Mcgee had said.

"Where's Alex?" Tony asked.

"With Abby."

Tony nodded and turned back to throwing paper at Mcgee's trashcan, purposefully missing every now and then, hitting Mcgee in the side of the head or on his desk to annoy his partner.

Suddenly Gibbs' phone went off, he checked the caller ID and it read, 'Vance' on the front.

Sighing the man opened his cell.

"Yeah? Gibbs."

"Agent Gibbs when I said, 'I need to speak with you' I did not mean whenever you get ready I mean now." Came the professional tone.

"Had something that needed tending to first," Gibbs replied indifferently.

"Get in here. Now," the director ordered firmly before ending the call.

The older man sighed before making his way up to the man's office.

Not pausing at the secretary's desk, he strolled in without knocking.

"What is it, Leon?" He asked.

"Alex," Came the only reply.

"Are you going to elaborate? Or am I supposed to guess?"

"I've been getting calls from MI6 all day I cannot keep avoiding them. What am I supposed to tell them?"

"What I'm supposed to be doing your job now too?" Gibbs questioned with a smile.

"You're supposed to keep me informed on what you're planning on doing with that kid!" Vance erupted.

"I can't tell you that just yet, Leon. You're just going to have to trust me. And as for what to tell MI6? Tell them Alex has decided to take a little vacation from work. Permanently."

Gibbs then walked back out of the door before Leon could get another word in.

****

Gibbs strolled quickly passed the bullpen.

"Hey, Boss! We got lunch! Got you and Alex something too," Tony said as he watched Gibbs walk right by him.

"Alex, will be up in a minute," Gibbs said as he entered the elevator and hit the button that would take him back down to Abby's lab.

Once the doors opened on Abby's lab floor he walked quickly in.

"Hey, Bossman!" Abby greeted.

"Abs," he greeted, "Alex, why don't you head on upstairs? Tony's got lunch and Mcgee has something for you too."

"Okay. I'll see you later, Abby," Alex said as he walked out of the lab and into the elevator.

"Good bye, 007," Abby called out happily.

Once Gibbs was certain Alex was gone he turned to Abby.

"I need you to get this adoption thing done, Abs. MI6 is getting fed up and soon their going to have to get Alex back unless we get this done," Gibbs informed.

Abby's eyes immediately lit up, "He said, yes? That's great, Gibbs! I'll call my cousin as soon as possible to start the arrangements."

Gibbs didn't say anything as he heard the elevator door 'ding' and the light foot falls coming their way.

"Abby, I have those samples you wanted me to...Oh hello Jethro I do hope I'm not interrupting anything?" Ducky said as he entered the room.

"Duckman! Gibbs is going to adopt, Alex!" Abby blurted out.

Ducky looked at his oldest friend and smiled, "He agreed?"

"Yeah, only because he thought that he was being a burden to Jack. Even made me promise to tell him if I decided that looking after him was getting to be too much," Gibbs replied.

"Nonsense. You look after those three rambunctious teammates of yours that seem to find themselves in trouble every other day, not to mention yourself. I think the boy will fit in just fine here," Ducky assured as he handed Abby the samples in his hands.

"Now if we can just get him to see that we'd be doing good," Gibbs muttered.

"He'll warm up to the idea. He just needs some time, and for us to welcome him. Who knows? Maybe in a few years he'll be sitting in Mcgee's seat," Ducky pondered.

"Duck, I doubt that kid will want to work for any government agency when he gets out of school."

"Ah, Jethro, I think you'll find that all the boy wants is to not be forced or manipulated into doing something. If MI6 had not forced him into finishing his uncle's mission and waited until he was old enough to make such a decision on his own, he might have followed into his family's footsteps," Ducky reasoned.

"Until he found out the truth about what happened to his parents," Gibbs muttered. He still couldn't get over that.

He couldn't imagine even thinking about doing that to Fornell and his daughter. What kind of bastard would do something like that? This Ash guy was lucky he was dead because at the moment, Gibbs wanted nothing more than to throttle the man.

Suddenly Gibbs' phone rang out, he pulled it out of his pocket and answered, "Gibbs."

He listened for awhile and Abby and Ducky waited patiently as he hung up his cell.

Gibbs started to walk out of the lab, calling out over his shoulder, "we got a case. This one's a doozy."

~**IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE THIS TIME~**

**A/N- Okay, This took longer than intended, as you know my updates are all over the place. And on top of that...nothing really happened in this chapter, but I had yet another idea...We'll kinda.**

**One of my reviewers(AR- Bookworm) asked to see Alex on a real case with The team...But as you can see from my last attempt at creating a case that didn't go so well. So I thought that I could just use an actual NCIS episode. **

**So I need some really good suggestions (from season six) for an episode that doesn't have a bunch of spoilers in it for season 7. I was thinking 'Heartland' or 'Murder 2.0'**

**I REALLY wanted to do Heartland because that would introduce Gibbs' dad to Alex, but I kinda screwed that up when I talked about Gibbs' yellow car a few chapters ago. :P**

**So let me know on an episode you'd wanna see with Alex in it.**

**(1)- haha million dollar question here is; Does Alex know how Gibbs gets the boats out?**

**(2)- Thanks to Rena The Jedi Pirate Wizard for her suggestion! I got chill bumps when I read ****that in Point Blanc!... And I own nothing of the Flashback that was all AH's work.**

**(3)- I know, I know some people don't think of Palmer as 'part of the team' But I do. He cracks me up with his VERY inappropriate jokes and how Gibbs just looks at him like, 'wtf Palmer?'**

**And unfortunately this story was not betaed :P I think my currently awesome Beta is w/o internet at the moment and is veryy busy. But that's cool she deserves a break from my rambling...and so do you guys**

**ReViEw! **


	18. Chapter 18

Alex was in awe as he watched the NCIS team work through their case with such diligence and dedication.

And Alex Rider found a whole new level of admiration for Jethro Gibbs.

In the last week he had seen the man yell at the secretary of the Navy for withholding valuable information on their case, get hit on by a woman half his age, and manage to take down _two_ trained marines in a fist fight by himself.

It had started out as a regular case. A dead marine found in an alley. It turned out that the marine was a hot tempered man and an over zealous soldier which caused one of his teammates to get killed in Afghanistan. The rest of their unit planned for vengeance, killing the man in honor of their fallen teammate.

Gibbs was sporting his own various bruises from the vicious fight he endured. Ducky checked him out and ruled that all the man needed was a hot shower and a nice rest.

Alex looked out at the window and into the night sky, it was late and the team was just starting to pack up their gear so they could go home for a nights rest.

"Boss, do you need me or the Probie to drive you and Alex home?" Tony asked, taking in the battered sight of his CO. Even though Gibbs won the fight, both of the men did get in a few good punches.

"No, DiNozzo, we're fine. Are you ready, Alex?" Gibbs said standing stiffly up.

"Sure, Gibbs." Alex said, swiftly reaching down to take the bag Gibbs was about to pick up.

Gibbs looked at Alex with a hint of annoyance.

"Alex, I'm fine." The man said, reaching for the bag.

"Oh, come on, you're not fine. You may have won, but those marines roughed you up" Alex said, stepping out of the man's reach.

Alex was finally feeling better, no stiffness or aches. He was feeling back to his old self.

Gibbs rolled his eyes but let it go, it was just a bag, after all.

"Let's go home, then. I hope you like Chinese for dinner tonight. I'll grill some steaks sometime this week." Gibbs informed as they walked out of the bullpen, leaving the rest of the team with smiles on their faces. Gibbs didn't grill steaks for anyone.**(1)**

Gibbs and Alex were really starting to warm up to each other. Alex was joking with Gibbs and, oddly enough, the team was seeing Gibbs smile...or, well, smirk more. Not quite a smile but enough for them to know that he was amused by Alex's sarcastic comments. Granted, that didn't take anything away from his gruff demeanor. He was still Gibbs, yelling and demanding.

"So, Tony says you have a gym here." Alex brought up purposefully.

Gibbs looked over to the teen knowingly, "Yeah, I'll get one of the team to show it to you. They're going to need some time in the gym soon anyways."

"Thanks," Alex said, happy to get some exercise. Shooting hoops in Gibbs' driveway wasn't as fulfilling as it was before.

Gibbs waited until they were in the car and driving out of the Navy Yard before saying, "Abby got those papers filled out. I'm going to sign them first thing tomorrow morning. The sooner we get this done the less MI6 will be able to do about it."

Alex nodded as the got lost in his thoughts.

Soon, he would be Leroy Jethro Gibbs' kid. He was now officially leaving a part of his life behind him. He called Tom and told him about this and his best friend was more than a little saddened by it. But Tom being the supportive friend that he was vowed that they would still talk and visit, to which, Alex was glad. And Tom was glad that Alex had found a way to get MI6 leave him alone. Tom was the only real thing he was going to miss in England when Alex thought about it.

Alex didn't notice Gibbs looking at him so he jumped when Gibbs said, "You know, I bet before school starts we can bring your friend Tom out for a visit."

Alex looked incredulously at the man, "How do you do that?"

"You're leaving your best friend behind, that would bother anyone."

"Thanks, I think Tom would like that. Anything to get away from his parents."

Gibbs looked over to the boy, "What's wrong with his parents?" He asked sharply.

"Nothing like what you're thinking," Alex assured, "they're getting a divorce, so their arguing a lot. Tom used to stay at my house when they got too bad. Tom's at his brothers house in Italy at the moment."

They pulled into Gibbs' driveway and Alex resumed holding Gibbs' bag as they made their way into the house. Gibbs sat gingerly down on the couch and whipped out his cell to order in when suddenly the phone rang on its own. Alex disappeared into the kitchen.

Gibbs sighed as he looked at the caller ID.

"Yeah? Gibbs."

_"Do you always answer your phone like that?"_

"Yeah, I do. Is there a point to this call?"

_"Is that any kind of way to talk to your father?"_

"Jack."

_"Oh, so we're back to you calling me Jack."_

Gibbs sighed, "What do you need?"

_"My house is being fumigated. Darn termites. Anyhow I need a place to stay."_

"Don't you have a nice lady friend in town to stay with?" Gibbs said bitterly.

_"Well, I could, but I thought this was a good chance for us to talk."_

"Now is...really not a good time."

_"I...I, uh, I understand, son. Maybe some other time then." _Came the crestfallen reply.

Gibbs sighed once more before coming a decision.

"Okay, okay! Things are a bit, uh, hectic around here, but it would be great for you to come. Do I need to pick you up from the airport?"

_"Only if you're sure, son. I don't want to be a bother."_

"You're not. I need to talk to you about some things anyways."Gibbs replied. He had to tell his father about the adoption some time.

"I'll come pick you up from the airport. I'll see you then."Gibbs said as he hung up the phone.

Alex appeared from the kitchen with an icepack for Gibbs' bruised and slightly swollen face.

"Thanks," Gibbs said to the boy. He was touched at Alex's thoughtfulness. Any other teen wouldn't think to do the things Alex did, like wash his dishes when he was done, or help with the laundry. Though Gibbs knew this was partly because Alex still had it in his head he was being a burden to him.

"So, you're picking the delivery guy up at the airport? That's quite a bit of work for some Chinese food don't you think?" Alex asked, sitting next to Gibbs on the couch with a smile.

Gibbs smirked, "no, that was my father. He's dropping in for a visit while his house is being fumigated."

"You don't sound so happy," Alex stated, hiding the fact that he was surprised Gibbs had a father.

"My dad and I have our...differences. But I have to tell him that he's going to be a grandfather again sometime. Might as well be now."

Alex nearly laughed at the word grandfather. He had only ever had an uncle, this was different. But technically this man would be his adopted grandfather.

"Is he going to be okay with this? I mean, I don't want to cause more problems with you and your Dad."

"He'll be fine. But let's let him get to know you first, then we'll spring it on him."

Alex nodded in agreement.

Gibbs pulled his phone back out and they ordered their Chinese food. Alex disappeared up to his room until Gibbs called him back down with food in tow.

They sat down at the table and began eating their food.

"Are you going to tell him everything? About MI6?" Alex asked after awhile.

Gibbs thought for a moment.

"Not if you don't want me to."

"Gibbs, he's your dad. If you think he needs to know then go ahead."

Gibbs looked at Alex, "Why don't we play this one by ear?"

Alex nodded in agreement

They both talked a bit more before Alex noticed Gibbs was hiding the fact that he was fighting to stay awake.

"Well, I'm going to bed. And you should too, you don't look so good. And besides Ducky said you couldn't work on your boat." Alex said as he quickly grabbed both of their plates and putting them in the sink to clean later.

Gibbs liked how well mannered Alex was, Ian and Jack clearly taught him to respect people as long as they deserved it.

"Oh, you're going to tell him?" Gibbs asked, getting up with a wince. The boy was right, he was exhausted.

"Yep, if you're looking after me it's only fair that I do the same for you." Alex replied.

"Yeah, well I got agents watching the house. The team needs sleep, but don't think I won't know if you go try to pull some dimwitted stunt like you pulled last time. I've learned my lesson, you need more watching than Tony." Gibbs said sternly but with a hint of affection.

Alex smiled lightly as he and Gibbs both stepped up the stairs to their rooms.

Gibbs mumbled a 'night' before disappearing into his room but leaving his door open, just in case.

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Alex wasn't surprised when he got up before Gibbs the next day. The man had really taken a beating. So, to pass the time, he went into the kitchen to fix the one breakfast meal he knew how to make without burning it. Pancakes. When Jack was ever sick or really didn't feel like making breakfast, Alex would cook them both pancakes.

As Alex began his work in the kitchen he suddenly heard a knock at the door. Warily, Alex walked to the front door. He peered through the blinds and saw an elderly man in a plaid shirt and carrying a cane, a small suitcase at his feet. Already guessing who the man was, he opened the door.

The older man was startled by the teen but asked politely, "Hello, young man. I'm looking for my son, Leroy."

"Of course, come on in." Alex said grabbing the man's suitcase to lighten the elderly man's load.

"Thank you, young man. Uh, who exactly are you?" He asked, still slightly confused.

"Right, sorry," Alex said, realizing he had yet to introduce himself to the man, "I'm Alex Rider. I'm under protection detail for awhile and Gibbs and his team are it."

Jackson nodded, "I see. My name is Jackson Gibbs. And just where is my son?"

"Asleep," Alex replied, leading them into the kitchen where the pancakes were still cooking.

"Asleep? When he's supposed to be looking after you? Now that doesn't sound like my son."

"He got into a fight with a suspect yesterday, and there's agents outside, just in case. Would you like some pancakes?"

"A fight? Is he okay?" Jack asked, shaking his head no to the offer.

"Yeah, he's basically just bruised up, Ducky checked him out."

Alex pulled out two plates and stacked pancakes on them.

He went over the the table and sat down with Jackson, leaving one plate on the counter for Gibbs.

"So, why exactly are you under protection detail? Your dad get mixed up in something he shouldn't?" Jack asked as Alex began his breakfast.

Alex smirked at the older man, "You could say that."

Then, from upstairs, they heard Gibbs slowly making his way down into the kitchen.

"You know, you didn't have to make breakfast, Alex." Gibbs called from the other room as he walked into the kitchen, not realizing who was in there.

Alex smiled as Gibbs walked in, rubbing his hand over his face which momentarily shielded his eyes from his father. However, when he saw Jackson sitting in the opposite seat of Alex, Gibbs looked as close to shock as Alex figured he would ever get to see him

"It seems that you had a very productive morning. What? Did you take the Challenger and go pick up him too?" Gibbs asked Alex, grabbing his own plate of pancakes and sitting down.

"I can drive your car?" Alex asked hopefully.

Gibbs smirked, "not on your life, kid."

"Now, Leroy, I let you drive the truck when you were about his age."

"Dad, I thought that I was going to pick you up this afternoon?" Gibbs asked through a mouthful of pancakes.

"Well, my flight was going to be canceled if I waited until later because of the weather so I took an earlier flight and took a cab here. It's no big deal, son." Jack assured.

"Well, I got to go back to the Navy Yard to finish some paper work on the case we just closed. Alex, you're with me. Dad? You can-"

"I need to speak with Abigail. She said the next time I was in town she would take me bowling with Sister Rosita." Jackson interrupted his son.

Alex smiled at the mention of the bowling nun league. Abby certainly was full of surprises.

Gibbs sighed, "Okay, fine."

Alex and Gibbs finished their breakfast. Alex talked a bit to Jack while Gibbs was silent, which wasn't much of a surprise to either of them.

Gibbs and Alex went upstairs and got themselves dressed before heading out to the Challenger and to the Navy Yard.

"This place sure is busy. Certainly not Stillwater." Jackson commented in the elevator.

Gibbs walked swiftly into the bullpen, ignoring the dull ache in his body.

"Boss, I didn't think you'd be coming in today...Mr. Gibbs!" Tony said as he saw the elder Gibbs behind his son.

"Hello, Tony, Mcgee, ah and the lovely Ziva. Always a pleasure." Jackson said, flirting with the woman mildly.

"What are you doing here? Vacation?" Tony smiled at Alex before asking, "or are you here to get to know your new grand-"

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked before the man could finish his sentence.

Tony's eyes widened as he realized he just spilled the beans.

"My grand what?" Jackson looked at his son, "Leroy? Is there something I should know?"

Gibbs sighed before standing up and walking over to his father, who was standing by Tony's desk.

Gibbs swiftly slapped the back of Tony's head. Tony gave a mix between a whimper and a groan before saying, "my bad, Boss."**(2)**

Gibbs didn't want to do this now but he really didn't have a choice.

"Dad, conference room." He said taking his father by the elbow and ushering him to the room

Alex moved over to sit in Gibbs' vacant desk seat.

"Gibbs wasn't going to tell his Dad until later, was he?" Tony asked, wincing as he rubbed the tender spot on the back of his head.

"No, he was going to wait until his dad had gotten to know me a bit more. Springing something like that on someone usually is done slowly, Tony." Alex said.

Ziva snorted, "Way to go, large mouth."

"Big mouth, Ziva." Mcgee corrected.

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"Leroy, what's going on?" Jackson asked as he sat down across from his son in the conference room.

"Dad, Alex got mixed up in some stuff. Some really dangerous stuff over the past year."

"And just where's the boy's parents? What, are they some rich snooty people who don't have time for their kid?" Jackson asked.

"They're dead. He was living with his uncle but he died earlier this year."

Jackson's face visibly fell as he realized he stuck his foot in it.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Leroy. I shouldn't have jumped the gun." He apoligized.

"I know, Dad. It seems that Alex has become a target for an...organization and they kind of want him dead. He's under protection detail for NCIS." Gibbs explained cryptically.

Jackson nodded before looking at his only child critically.

"There's more, isn't their, son?"

Gibbs sighed before nodding.

"Alex's uncle and father worked for MI6. When his dad died his uncle became his guardian. Ian Rider, his uncle, started training him to be a spy since he was able to walk."

Jackson raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything so Gibbs continued.

"When Ian Rider died, Alex's stayed with his housekeeper, who raised him when Alex's uncle went on a mission."

"Well that's terrible, son, but that doesn't tell me what this has to do with you."

"Dad, MI6 has been blackmailing that kid into going on missions for them. He's been beaten up, threatened, and _shot_ in the chest by a criminal organization that has hired an assassin to kill him."

Gibbs watched as his father's face looked at him incredulously.

"How are they blackmailing him?"

"Jack Starbright is Alex's housekeeper. She's American. They threatened to deport her and put Alex in an orphanage until he was 18."

Jackson's face became hard and determined, "Well, what are you planning on doing about it?"

Jack knew that his son wouldn't let this go until he had done whatever he could for the boy.

"Well, Dad, I'm...going to adopt him." Gibbs said, letting the statement hang in the air.

Jack looked at Gibbs, "Are you sure you're ready for that?"

Gibbs averted his eyes, he knew his dad was referring to his wife and child that he missed every day that he woke up without him.

"Dad, MI6 isn't the only Agency that's been after Alex. The CIA, and the ASIS have used him too. I can't leave that kid to fend for himself between those people. You know as well as I do that Shannon would kick my ass if I sat by and did nothing for Alex. And I really want to do want to help him, I like Alex. He doesn't deserve what he's been put through."

Jackson seemed to process what he had been told for a moment before smiling at his son.

"Well, in that case, show me to my new grandchild."

Gibbs smiled, he didn't know why he was so uneasy about telling his dad about this in the first place. His dad was more of a sucker for kids than he was.

"Alex is pretty modest about stuff like that. I wouldn't expect him to start calling you 'grandpa.'"

Jack looked at Gibbs, "Well, Leroy, he wouldn't be the only one in this family that calls me Jack." He said pointedly.

"_Dad_," Gibbs said firmly. Making a note to do his best not to call his dad _Jack_ anymore.

He didn't want to trigger anymore arguments than necessary. There's no point in making Alex think he was getting himself into a dysfunctional family just yet.

"Now come on, I got to go finish up the paperwork on the case."

Both Gibbs men stood up and walked out of the room and down to the...empty bullpen.

"Where'd everybody go?" Jackson asked looking around at the empty desks.

"They went down to the gym with Alex." Abby said happily as she made her way to the bullpen with a thick manilla file in her hand.

Gibbs nodded as he saw that all of his agents paperwork was on his desk.

"Jackson! It's great to see you!" Abby said engulfing the older man in a huge hug, "what are you doing here?"

"His house if being fumigated. Is there something you need, Abs?" Gibbs asked, looking pointedly at the file in her hands.

"Yep, these are the, uh, files you needed to fill out about Alex." Abby said vaguely.

Gibbs almost rolled his eyes, apparently DiNozzo was the only one that was boneheaded enough to blurt out things.

"It's okay, Abby. He knows." Gibbs said taking the file.

Abby smiled happily at Jackson.

"Really? That's great!" Abby said hugging Jack again before becoming serious once more.

"Gibbs, my friend, the one that got the paperwork together, she said that if the paperwork got out to MI6 or the CIA before the files were permanent, then they might stonewall us."

"Yeah, I've thought of that already, Abs. Don't worry, I've got it covered." Gibbs said.

Abby nodded before turning her attention back to Jack.

"I'm going bowling Tuesday, you should come with me. Sister Rosita has been asking about you."

Jackson offered his arm to the lady and Abby looped her arm through it as they began to walk to the elevator to give Gibbs some room.

Said man sighed deeply before pulling out a slip of paper, grabbing his phone and dialing the number on the paper. It rang three times before...

_"Daniels."_

"Agent Daniels, this is Special Agent Gibbs. NCIS."

_"Agent Gibbs, has something happened to Alex?"_ Came Ben Daniels' sharp tone.

"No, but I need your help with something. I'm getting Alex out of the mess he's in."

_"I'm glad to hear that. What's the plan?"_

"There's going to be some paperwork come in regarding me adopting Alex. I need to make sure that the heads at MI6 don't have any knowledge of that until it's filed away and there's nothing they can do about it."

_"You're going to adopt him? That's...good to hear, I suppose. But, don't worry, I'll take care of it, Agent Gibbs."_

"Thanks a lot. Let me know if you run into any problems."

_"You got it, Gibbs."_ Ben replied before ending the call.

Gibbs stood up, paperwork in hand, and walked out of the bullpen and into the elevator, hitting the button that would take him down to the gym.

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"Come on, Alex! Show her who's boss!" Tony said from the outside of the boxing ring.

Alex and Ziva were fighting in the ring. Martial Arts style, sending kicks and punches flying everywhere.

But despite Tony's cheering, and much to Alex's embarrassment, Ziva David was kicking his ass. She was too fast for him.

Alex tried to surprise her by stepping back with a roundhouse kick, but Ziva caught his foot easily and before the teen knew what hit him, he was lying flat on his back with Ziva pinning him down, her hand on his windpipe. He realized she could easily crush it. Ziva definitely knew how to take care of herself.

Smiling up at Ziva as she let him up he asked, "You gotta show me how you did that."**(2)**

Ziva laughed, "I would love to. You're good, Alex. You had a good instructor."

"Oh great, a little Ziva apprentice, just what we need." Tony groaned as he hopped down and started hitting the punching bag with his gloved fists.

Gibbs, who had been watching the two fight from the doorway of the gym, walked over to the ring.

"Not bad, Ziva. But if you're planning on teaching Alex, be sure he doesn't end back up in the hospital, will ya?" He asked.

"Oh, come on, I'm not _that _bad." Alex defended.

Tony and Mcgee laughed.

"Alex, when you go out to pick up lunch and get cornered in an alley during a gunfight, you're definitely _that bad_." Mcgee replied.

Alex sighed, knowing that they were right.

He turned to Gibbs, "Is everything okay?"

Gibbs nodded, knowing he was referring to his father.

"Dad's fine, don't worry about that." He assured.

Alex nodded but sound too convinced when he replied, "Okay."

"I got the adoption papers, I'm going to fill them out then you, me and my dad can go grab a bite to eat." Gibbs said gesturing to the folder.

Alex nodded before Tony and Ziva called him back over to the ring.

Gibbs smiled before nodding goodbye, glad that his team had taken to Alex so well. The boy didn't know it yet, but he had just gained himself a family overnight.

**A/N- Okay, I'm really sorry. This update was more than overdue and for that I'm sorry. I'm also sorry about this chapter because of the fact that I decided not to use an actual NCIS episode. I really did try to do it I just couldn't get it to work out. I'm sorry if I really disappointed people.**

** And I know that this chapter might be a little...lacking but It's going to pick up in the next chapters...trust me:)**

** The next chapters will never take so long again. I can almost promise it. Lol.**

** And, lets not forget to thank my wonderful Beta ChakramVampire for finding the time to help with this chapter and especially the next chapters coming up.**

** 1)- Lol, that's definitely a Flesh & Blood reference. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but just know that episode is amazing.**

** 2)-You guys know what I'm talking about...that hilarious noise Tony makes after Gibbs headslaps him? Lol, looove it.**

** And I think like three different people suggested to me that Ziva train Alex and teach him what she knows...I can't seem to find it in my reviews though so if the people that suggested that would tell me who they were will tell me I will thank them in the next chapter :D**

** Review, please!:D**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N- READ FIRST PLEASE! Small WARNING**.

** I know I don't usually put author's notes in the first part of the story. I usually try to wait until the end of the story but I have a small warning...Someone dies in this chapter...:(**

** mild NCIS episode SWAK spoiler in this chapter...but if you haven't seen that episode shame shame shame on you!;)**

** And I'm trying a small new thing with thoughts instead of doing it the way I've been doing it I'm just doing it simply like **_'this'_** but if you think it's too complicated to keep up with I can switch back. I only used it in one part to do it as a trial run. Let me know what you think!**

** And now ON with the story! (and this should be the end of the authors notes at the beginning of the story...I know some people don't like them all that much.)**

"You know, Ziva? Alex nearly had you with that roundhouse kick." Tony said from his desk.

Ziva looked up from her computer, "you are right. He did. He is really good. And even under the unfortunate circumstances he was taught really well. Granted he is not Mossad but if he needed to he could hold his own in a fight." She observed.

"DiNozzo, where's Gibbs?" Vance asked urgently as he made his way into the bullpen almost at a run.

"He went off with his dad and Alex for lunch. What's going on?" Tony asked as the team looked up to their director.

"We've just gotten a threat against Jack Starbright's life by SCORPIA. The agents that are supposed to be watching her house isn't answering their cells. I want your team there now. Get a hold of Gibbs."

Tony, Ziva and Mcgee were already on their feet, grabbing their guns as they made their way to the elevator.

"Ziva, call Gibbs. He needs to get Alex to the Navy Yard where it's safe." Tony ordered, slipping into lead agent without realizing what he was doing. Though Ziva and Mcgee didn't seem to care as they followed his orders without question.

They piled into the Charger and Tony peeled out of the parking garage at break neck speed, channeling Gibbs and Ziva in his driving.

Gibbs answered Ziva's call on the second third ring, she quickly filled him in before hanging up.

"He said for us to move in, he had to get Alex to safety. But to keep him updated." Ziva relayed as she hung up the phone.

Tony only nodded as Mcgee handed them their earwigs.

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"We have to go. Now," Gibbs said standing up from the table and grabbing Alex by the arm.

"What's going on, Leroy?" Jackson asked as he grabbed his cane and followed his son to the car.

Gibbs thought for less than a second.

"There was a threat against Alex and his guardian." He lied. The threat wasn't against Alex, just Jack.

"You're taking me to Jack, right?" Alex asked, bracing himself as Gibbs tore out of the parking space at the restaurant.

"No, Tony, Ziva and Mcgee are going to Jack. You're going back to the Navy Yard." Gibbs answered.

"What about Jack?" Alex asked.

"Alex, the team is more than capable of keeping Jack safe. You trust us, don't you?"

Alex nodded and looked out of the window. He did trust the team, but he knew that there was only so much that they could do.

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Tony parked them half a block away from Jack's house. They got out, guns drawn, and moved in.

Tony was about to tell them to move in at the backdoor when he saw that the door was slightly open. He motioned it to Ziva and Mcgee but that didn't matter. Not even five seconds later the whole house exploded, sending the whole team reeling backwards.

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"Should you call them?" Jackson asked as he watched Alex sit at Tony's empty desk with a worried expression on his face. He felt helpless.

"No, that could give away their position. Tony will call me when he's handled the situation." Gibbs replied. He obviously had complete faith in his team.

Gibbs looked up to Alex and was about to reassure him that Jack was going to be fine when the TV behind Alex caught his eye.

He grabbed the remote and turned it up. The news lady's voice echoed throughout the bullpen.

_"A house in down town DC exploded from a bomb just minutes ago. For reasons unknown, three NCIS agents were found at the scene, paramedics are checking this out now. This is brought to you live from ZNN."_

The camera shifted and Gibbs could see Tony waving off paramedics as he put the phone to his ear. Seconds later, Gibbs phone vibrated and he answered it.

"Yeah, DiNozzo, I heard," Gibbs walked away from Alex, who was looking at him with a hard look on his face. He knew what was happening.

"What about, Jack?" He asked when he was out of ear shot of the teen.

"Firemen have been in there, Boss. There's a body." Tony said grimly, "It's too burned to tell who it is, but it is a woman and Jack was the only one in the house at the moment. Her parents were at the store. And she's the only one missing."

"Ziva and Mcgee?" Gibbs asked.

"We're all fine. A bit cut up and bruised but we're fine. I'm sorry, Boss. I should've gotten us here quicker. God, Alex is going to hate me."

"Not your fault. Finish getting checked out by the paramedics and secure the scene, Ducky will be there soon for the body."

Gibbs hung up with Tony and called the ME.

"I just heard Jethro, how's our boy handling the news?"

"Haven't talked to him yet, Duck. But I'm sure he knows. Look, we got a body, get over there and get it."

"Certainly, Jethro."

Gibbs once again hung up his phone but when he turned back to the bullpen, Alex was gone.

"Dad, where's Alex?" He demanded.

"I don't know he just now took off to the elevator."

Gibbs took off at a run to the elevator. He couldn't let Alex do something stupid again. He hit the down button repeatedly until he let out a growl of frustration and ran to the stairway. He scaled down the steps two at a time, he knew if Alex was in the city alone and SCORPIA got wind of it the teen would be as good as dead.

As he went down the stairs he heard his phone ring again. He didn't break his stride as he answered.

"Gibbs."

"Ah, Jethro, you really need to keep a leash on that boy."

Gibbs stopped in his tracks, "Ducky, is Alex with you?"

"Saw him in the elevator on the way down to the van. I sent Mr. Palmer ahead to the crime scene and took the poor teen back to autopsy. I think it's time Jimmy went solo once anyways."

Gibbs sighed, "I'm on my way, Duck. Don't let him out of your sight."

He hung up and ran a hand over his face as he trudged slowly back up the steps he nearly broke his neck to get down.

Jack Starbright was dead and he had no idea how Alex was going to handle it aside from the obvious.

When he arrived at the doors of autopsy he saw Ducky and Alex sitting by the older man's desk. Alex had a glass of water in his hand and Ducky had a glass of some beverage he was sipping on as he rambled on and on about something.. Alex's face was hard and slightly pained as he listened to Ducky talk but you could tell he was trying to concentrate on what Ducky was saying in an attempt to keep his mind clear.

Gibbs sighed again and walked into the autopsy lab.

The teen looked up at the man and then averted his eyes, "I'm sorry, Gibbs."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Gibbs said. The words 'never say you're sorry- it's a sign of weakness' was on the tip of his tongue but he didn't think Alex would receive that rule well at the moment.

Ducky gave Gibbs a sympathetic look.

"Come on, why don't we go home?" Gibbs said coming over and putting a hand on the teen's shoulder.

Alex nodded sullenly as he stood up.

"Thanks for the water, Ducky." He said before walking to the elevator to wait on Gibbs.

"Thanks, Ducky. Who knows where the kid would've been if you didn't catch him when you did."

"No problem, Jethro. You certainly have yourself a bad road ahead of you. Jack and Alex were pretty close by the looks of things."

"I know, Ducky. We'll get him through this." He assured as he walked and joined Alex in the elevator.

"I want to go home." Alex said quietly.

"We're going there now." Gibbs said gently.

Alex shook his head, "No, home to London. I can't stay here anymore."

The doors opened and Alex didn't wait for Gibbs to reply as he stepped out and got his things from the bullpen.

Gibbs was hot at his heels though, "Alex, you can't just go. If anything, this should make you want to stay more."

"How, Gibbs? How did you come up with that? You just saw it for yourself. Jack, tried to help me and look where it got her. She's dead! I want to go home and there's nothing you can do to stop me. I'll take my chances with MI6. Now, do you want me to get my stuff out of your house now or wait until tomorrow? I'll get in touch with Blunt as soon as possible."

Gibbs looked at Alex like he was crazy, "You're not _going_ anywhere, Alex. I promised Jack that I was going to keep you out of harms way, and I keep my promises."

"What's going on?" Jackson asked. He was sitting in Gibbs' seat as he waited on his son to return.

"Alex, thinks he's going to leave." Gibbs informed.

"Now, what would give him such a thought like that?"

"Jack tried to help me keep a normal life, and look where that got her. I can't let Gibbs and the rest of the team get killed because of me. I've screwed up enough and now I've got Jack's blood on my hands."

"Jack's blood is not on your hands. It's on SCORPIA's. Jack wanted to stay with you because she loved you. Jack was also not a federal agent and marine, I don't need you to try to protect me, okay? You're staying with me." Gibbs ordered in his tone that made DiNozzo jump like a little girl.

"_Why_ don't we go home and give Alex some time alone. He's had a horrible day, Leroy. He needs some time to sort out his thoughts." Jackson interrupted his son, knowing that neither Alex or Gibbs were thinking clearly.

In the end, the both of them agreed with the older man and they made their way home. Alex was looked determinedly out the window in the car. It seemed that Jack's death hadn't really hit him yet but the teen knew it was just a matter of time.

When Ian died Alex kept himself busy with trying to find out the truth behind his uncle's death and not dying on his first mission. Mourning wasn't really an option at that time. But now that he had time to mourn? He didn't want to talk to anyone and for some reason he especially didn't want to talk to Gibbs. But the man kept sending him silent looks in his rearview mirror.

When they arrived at Gibbs house and walked in Alex went straight to his room without a word.

Gibbs and his father sat down on the couch in the living room.

"What happened, Leroy?"

"There was a threat against Alex's current guardian. There was a death threat against her. The agents that was supposed to be watching her were shot with a tranquilizer. There was a bomb planted in the house when my team got there it exploded. Jack's body was found in the house. She's dead. The team's securing the scene."

"Shouldn't Alex have more agents watching him? Are you sure you're enough?" Jackson questioned his son.

"I can take care of Alex. Tony, Ziva, and Mcgee live close enough that if I need them they can be here quick. I've got it under control, Dad."

Jackson shrugged, "if you say so. The kid's upstairs, don't you think you should go talk to him? Alex has to be feeling more than alone right now."

"I think Alex is more of a person that likes to grieve alone. I'll go check on him in after while."

Gibbs was vaguely nervous about leaving Alex alone upstairs. The last time the kid left without a warning and nearly got himself killed. But he knew he had to trust Alex so he left him alone, though that didn't stop him from looking out of the window that was directly below Alex's window...just in case.

So, since they missed lunch, and despite Gibbs' objections, Jackson set to work to make them lunch. Soon, the smell of grilled cheese sandwiches filled the house.

"You know, I could've done that."

"You could've. But I wanted to feel useful. My coming here was unexpected, it's only fair that I help out with the cooking at least." Jack said as he put a pile of grilled cheeses down on the kitchen table.

"I think it's time you went up there." Jackson said softly.

Jethro sighed, "I know that." He grumbled as got up from the table and walked to the stairs.

He didn't know what he was expecting to find when he got up there. Alex sobbing into his pillow uncontrollably? Somehow he didn't think that would be the case. Though he did think that would be easier. He could handle crying kids, he had enough practice in this line of work. More than he wanted to count children had been mixed up in his cases, causing him to have to deal with distraught kids.

Gibbs looked into Alex's room, the door was slightly open, which he was thankful for. Leaning against the door frame, he saw Alex sitting in the floor resting his back against the side of the bed. Alex was looking down at a photo album that Gibbs assumed were pictures of Jack.

The teen had yet to notice him, which Gibbs was also thankful for. Good to see Marine sniper training outweighed that of a spy's training. He was also glad because he was able to see Alex with his protective shield he had around himself, down.

The teen's face was sad to the point of depressed. He had lost the last person from his old life, there was absolutely no going back now.

Alex let out a long sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Damn it," he mumbled as he buried his face in his hands.

Gibbs could tell he wasn't crying, but you could hear the anguish in the teen's voice. Unable to keep his presence a secret any longer, Gibbs went over and sat down beside the teen silently, ignoring the painful pop in his knee as he did so, letting his presence be comforting. They sat like that for long time, Gibbs not moving except to rub the teen's back lightly. Alex didn't look up as Gibbs did this, unable to face the man just yet.

Since Alex didn't shake his arm off or get angry with him for being in the room he figured he was doing something right.

Gibbs didn't count the time that had passed, not that he needed too. He would sit here all night if it would help Alex deal with his loss.

But, Alex didn't share the same sentiment as he lifted his head and looked at Gibbs. The teen's face still looked pained and miserable.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

"No problem. What've you got?" Gibbs asked, tapping the book lightly with his pointer finger.

"Just an old scrap book..._she _put together when Ian died. A bunch of old pictures of all three of us." Alex said.

Gibbs noticed the refusal to say Jack's name aloud. The teen's mourning was far from over.

"You can tell my Dad and me about them later, you need to eat. Come on, grilled cheese sandwiches are downstairs." Gibbs urged.

"I'm _really_ not hungry right now, Gibbs. My stomach's not agreeing with me, if you now what I mean," Alex replied taking a deep steady breath.

The boy really did look pale.

"Yeah, I understand. Don't worry, it'll pass. You don't have to eat right now, either. You'll _have_ to eat something before you go to bed, though. I'm going to go get you something to settle your stomach, then you can show me your book."

Alex shook his head with a bitter smile, "Gibbs, I'm not a child I don't need share with you." He said before mumbling under his breath, "I'll be fine."

"You _are_ a child, you've just seen and done too much. That ends now. And I want you to tell me about your childhood, it's got me curious." Gibbs said, nudging the teen playfully.

The teen still shook his head.

"Maybe later," he reasoned.

"Alright," Gibbs agreed, not wanting to push the teen, "I'm going to go see if I have some stomach medicine, I'll be right back."

Alex nodded but didn't move from his spot on the floor. But as soon as Gibbs left the teen shot to his feet and grabbed the phone Mcgee had been generous enough to give him.

He dialed a familiar number and waited until a woman answered.

"Royal and General. How may we help you today?"

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When Gibbs walked back into the room Alex was just hanging up his phone.

"Who was that?" Gibbs asked casually but still startling the boy.

"Tom left me a voice message but it was just loud music, I think he was pocket dialing again." Alex lied. It had taken some persuasion but he was finally put through to Blunt.

Gibbs seemed to buy this but Alex was slightly put off when Gibbs replied softly, "Rule 7."

"What's rule 7?" Alex asked, clearly confused.

"Always be specific when you _lie_."

The teen knew he was caught but decided to play dumb, "what do you mean?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes but when he began to reply his phone went off. He looked at the caller ID. DiNozzo.

He knew taking the phone call in front of Alex would be a mistake so he stood up and gave the stomach reliever to the boy.

"Take some of that and don't even think about doing something stupid." He warned.

_'Too late.'_

"I'm not."

'_I already did. I'm sorry, Gibbs.'_

Once Gibbs left the room Alex opened the liquid medicine and took a long swig**.**

Turning back to the photo album Alex sighed as his eyes landed on a picture from when he was no more than eight. It was of Jack sitting on the ground, with Alex hugged to her body. They were both laughing at the camera which was being held by Ian. Alex ran a thumb across Jack's smiling face. A second later one lone, heavy, tear splattered onto the page.

"I'm sorry, Jack."

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"Ducky identified the body, Boss. It's Jack." Tony's voice sounded firm and professional but only Gibbs could detect the guilt over the phone.

"Yeah, I figured as much. Anymore threats been made?" He asked as he made his way down the stairs to avoid being spied on by the mini Bond upstairs.

"If there has Vance hasn't said anything. Boss, how's...Ow! Abby, that hurt!" Tony's pained voice was fazed out and Abby's filled the receiver.

"Gibbs this is horrible! Jack was so nice! I thought we were going to be friends, but this isn't about me. How's Alex? He must be feeling horrible! You're not letting him feel guilty about this are you? I know he's probably feeling guilty even though that's ridiculous! Tell him I-"

"Abby! Alex is going to be fine, he just needs some time." Gibbs interrupted her rambling, knowing she would go on forever if she wasn't stopped.

The goth sighed, "You're right, Bossman. I have complete faith in you." She said trustingly.

"Oh! And I talked to my cousin! She's managed to move the adoption paperwork up to the top of the list for us since time is of the essence. She said that by tomorrow the work should be finalized and nobody can do anything about it."

"That's really good, Abby. Good work."

"Tell Alex that we love him, okay?" She ordered more than asked.

"You got it, Abs." He said before ending the call.

Gibbs groaned softly as he sat onto the couch gratefully. His tired, aching body was beginning to protest.

"You need to eat, son," Jack noted as he came from the kitchen with a plate of two grilled cheeses. He handed the plate to the younger man and sat down.

"Thanks." Gibbs said as he took the plate, realizing how hungry he had become.

"How is he?"

"He's up to something. I don't know what, I'm gonna keep an eye on him though." Gibbs stated through a big mouth full of cheese and bread.

"Well, you be careful here, son. I know you're used to raising kids but you've really only had experience with young girls. This is a teenaged boy. And if he's anything like you were when you were a teenager...you're in for it. Nothing but stubbornness."

Gibbs smirked, "I think I've got it under control, Dad. I unofficially adopted three adults when I put them on my team. And DiNozzo is the ring leader of stubbornness...and teenaged antics." Gibbs said with the smallest hint of a smile.

Jackson smiled back a his son, "You're right. You do have yourself quite a family going on here. I am glad you've made yourself happy again."

Gibbs nodded his thanks awkwardly. This was a topic that was fast becoming uncomfortable with him.

They sat in silence for quite a while longer until Gibbs finished his lunch. His dad excused himself from the room to take a bath.

To pass time Gibbs pulled his legs up on the couch and stretched out. He was reluctant to go down to the basement and work on the boat, too concerned that Alex would try his disappearing act again.

So, knowing he needed rest, he went into his light sleep that only a marine would call refreshing.

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The rest of the night passed without incident. Surprisingly, Alex didn't try anything. Though Gibbs still had a nagging feeling Alex was up to something.

He didn't feel that yelling at the boy would help matters any, so the best thing he could do was watch him like a hawk.

That morning the elder man was trying to decide whether or not he should take Alex to the Navy Yard or if it would be best for him to stay at home today. His mind was made up for him, however, when Alex came down from his room fully dressed and said, "I'm ready to go when you are."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. So he just grabbed his jacket, told his dad where they would be, and took off to the Navy Yard with his charge.

Alex didn't say one word to Gibbs in the car or on the way up to the bullpen. He knew Alex was quiet but this was too much.

Gibbs was surprised to see Vance standing at the edge of the bullpen talking to his team. Tony noticed them coming and gave Gibbs a hard look before looking pointedly at Alex. This wasn't going to end well.

Vance followed DiNozzo's gaze and looked to Gibbs.

"Ah, Agent Gibbs. Just the person of interest in MTAC at the moment. Well, other than Alex, that is." He said.

"What are you going on about, Leon?" Gibbs asked.

"Alan Blunt. Apparently he got a call last night from Mr. Rider, here. He wants to speak with you."

Gibbs looked hard at Alex.

"What did you do?" He demanded.

Alex kept his eyes averted but was silent. Vance started walking up the stairs to take them to MTAC and Alex sighed and followed.

"Stay here," Gibbs hissed at his team before stalking off after Leon and Alex.

He entered MTAC and, sure enough, Alan Blunt's face was plastered on the screen.

"Alex, it's good to see that you're okay," Blunt said offhandedly, not really all that sincere either.

"Yeah, thanks," Alex said, staring at the screen, refusing to look at Gibbs who was glaring a hole into his head.

Blunt then addressed Gibbs.

"Agent Gibbs, it seems that your team can't look out for Alex, despite what you had promised the boy. He called last night and wanted me to arrange him a plane ticket home. This is purely his choice, so there's nothing either one can do. It's his decision." He snarled.

"His only other living caregiver _died_ yesterday, Blunt. He doesn't know what he wants, he just knows he's scared and doesn't want anymore people that he actually_ likes_ to get hurt. That's the only reason why he called you," Gibbs said harshly.

But Alex was having none of it.

"I'm not scared." He stated firmly.

But the look Gibbs turned to give him told Alex that the man could see through him like glass.

"Yes, you are. I don't care if you've been this superspy for the last year of your life or not, Alex. You're still just a kid, that's scared, but can't show it because if you do, it could get you killed."

"It doesn't really matter anymore, Gibbs. If NCIS does not put Alex on a plane to London today, this will go to the media that NCIS is holding an English school boy for no apparent reason."

"Hey! I call you so you and Gibbs could fight about it," Alex said sternly to Blunt before looking at the man beside him, "Gibbs, I know you're trying to help me but this isn't going to work. Too many people have died because of me this year. I don't want you and the team to end up on that list."

"This isn't about me or the team, Alex. It's about you being safe. I don't know how many times I'm going to have to drill into your head that _me and the team can take care of ourselves._ And trust me, we've been taking care of Abby, Ducky, and Palmer way before you showed up. We can handle this."

Alex glared and sighed heavily before walking out of the MTAC room.

_'God, Gibbs doesn't listen, at all.'_

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Gibbs watched as Alex left MTAC without saying a word. He pulled out his phone and his number one on his speed dial. DiNozzo picked up on the second ring.

"DiNozzo, Alex is coming down to you. Don't let him leave this building. Stick with him."

"On it, Boss." Tony said before hanging up before Gibbs could get a chance to.

He turned back to Alan Blunt, ready to fight it out with the head of MI6.

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Tony ended the call just as Alex Rider slid into the elevator. Tony stood up and ran into the elevator, sliding in just as the door was almost completely shut, something he had done many times before.

"Tony, what are you doing?" Alex asked wearily.

"Nothing, just thought you might want some company is all." Tony said happily.

"Well, I really don't right now." Alex said mildly.

"Well, unfortunately for you, that's a problem because the Boss just ordered me to stick to you like glue." Tony said apologetically.

Alex sighed again, "Of course he did." He mumbled.

"Hey, he's just trying to help you, Alex." Tony said, loyally.

"I know that! It's just...this isn't working." Alex managed to get out.

Tony reached out and turned off the elevator, which promptly shuttered to a halt.

"Do you know what Semper Fi means?" He asked.

Alex thought about it for a moment, "Jack, used to say it sometimes, I thought it was just an old saying from a movie." He managed to get her name out that time but it was strained and Tony could hear it.

"It means 'Always Faithful'. That's something all hardcore marines live by. Gibbs was a gunnery sergeant in the Marines and he doesn't take that motto for granted. When Gibbs gives you his trust and he starts to look out for you he does it fully. When I'm out in the field I don't have to watch my six because I know that Gibbs is right there with me. Gibbs is looking out for you, you don't have to worry, what you have to do is_ trust _him."

"Yeah, well then who's going to be 'watching his six', Tony? He's made it clear that he doesn't need my help."

Tony straightened his posture, "He has me, Ziva, and Mcgee. That's all he needs, Alex. And the only reason why he keeps saying that he doesn't want your help is because he doesn't want to put your life in danger. He knows what you're capable of he just doesn't feel the need to exploit that when there are perfectly fine _adults_ to handle this."

The small elevator was quiet for a moment as Tony let all of this sink in. Then, as an example he added, "Did Gibbs ever tell you about the time I got the plague?"

Alex looked up, "Yeah, that sounded horrible, Tony."

"Oh, it was, trust me. It was months before I could open an envelope without feeling the need to be in a Hazmat suit. But the point is, that was when I was in the hospital recovering, I had some pretty _bad_ nights. And you know what the only thing that kept me going was? Gibbs. He sat with me through all the bad nights and ordered me not to die, ordering me to breath, ordering me beat a eighty-five percent chance of dying. And I did it. Not because I was scared of Gibbs, but because I didn't want to let him down. Gibbs yelling isn't punishment on this team. Not completely. Yes, it is embarrassing and nerve wracking sometimes, but that's not what me and the team are afraid of. We're afraid of disappointing him. Gibbs is a very respectable man, we look up to him. And it may sound crazy but I hope that, one day, people will look up to me with as much respect and admiration that I do with Gibbs. The man is loyal to his people and, now, you are apart of his people too. He's not going to let you go so easily. Gibbs is also a fan of tough love." Tony said with a smile as he reached over to flip the switch on the elevator.**(1)**

But Alex didn't smile back he could only look at Tony in awe. He didn't realize that Tony looked up to Gibbs so much.

The elevator began to shift the rest of the way downwards but suddenly Alex didn't plan to get off. This team was a tight knit family, something that he had been yearning for most of his life and now he was just going to run away from it? He didn't think so. Not anymore. Now that he looked at it, he realized how much trouble he had stirred up for Gibbs.

"Tony, I think I messed up."

Tony gave Alex a 'duh' look.

"Yeah, that you did, man. But Gibbs will take care of it." He said, looking pointedly at the teen, waiting expectantly for him to agree.

Alex nodded slowly, "you're right."

Tony smiled wide, "Atta boy!" He said happily, slapping him on the back as the doors opened on the ground floor of NCIS.

And standing right in front of them was Ben Daniels.

"Ben?" Alex asked.

"Alex, tell me Gibbs hasn't agreed to let you go back to London!" He said hurriedly as he entered the elevator with Alex and Tony.

"No, he's up in MTAC fighting it out with your Boss now, why?" Tony asked closing the elevator and hitting the button that would take them back to the bullpen. The Senior Field Agent had a gut feeling the news that Ben had to tell them wasn't going to be pretty and that Gibbs would want to hear it.

"Alex, you can _not_ go back to MI6. Not after what they did. My resignation is going to be on Blunt's desk first thing tomorrow. I can't work with that man after what he's done." Ben said looking at Alex with a miserable look on his face, like he didn't want to be the one that told Alex the news.

"Ben, what did he do?" Alex asked, his voice low, barely breathing.

Ben shook his head sadly.

"Alex, SCORPIA didn't order any bomb to be placed in the house to kill Jack."

"Then who did?" Tony asked warily as though he already knew the answer.

Ben, not able to face Alex, turned to Tony.

"Alan Blunt."

**A/N- You can just hear the 'dun duuun duuunnnnn' music in the background, can you not?XD I hope you guys aren't too terribly mad at me for killing off Jack...She just wasn't fitting into the story right. (Despite what I did, Jack's one of my favorite characters in Alex Rider.)**

** 1- Yeah, I know after the episode SWAK it doesn't actually show that Gibbs stayed with Tony...but I like to think he did so just go with it.:)**

** You guys can thank ChakramVampire for most of this chapter! She came up with the awesome idea for Blunt to kill Jack. I had already planned to kill Jack she just made it ten times better.:D**

** *Sighs* unfortunately I think that there's a bit Alex/OC in this chapter...but he just lost Jack so I think that he's entitled to a little grieving.**

** *Teaser*- SCORPIA's coming up real soon.**

** On a completely different note- for all American's NCIS season 8 premieres September 21****st****! And the episode's name is called 'The Spider and the Fly'.**

**Okay, lol, I'm done. Review's are amazing!**


	20. Chapter 20

Anger seeped through Alex as he stared at Ben's guilty face. The anger must have been written on his face because Tony was looking at him warily.

Alex vaguely heard the doors 'ding' open, he stepped out of the elevator and, at a run, he made for the stairs. Tony and Ben were hot on his heels as he sped past the bullpen.

"Alex, wait!" Tony called, trying to catch up to the fast boy.

As Tony bounded up the stairs after the teen he heard more footsteps following them which told him that Ziva and McGee had joined in on the chase after the teen.

The only thing on Alex's mind as he approached the MTAC door was catching Blunt before Gibbs cut the video. He gave a mental sigh of relief as he saw Blunt's face still on the screen arguing with Gibbs and the director.

"Agent Gibbs! This is none of the NCIS agency's business. Director Vance, it would do you good to take more authority in your house**(1)**. You're agents obviously need to learn respect." Blunt was saying, but before Gibbs or Vance could even open their mouth to retaliate Alex made his presence known to everyone in the room.

"You killed her!" He shouted lividly.

Blunt's eyebrows raised considerably but other than that his facial expression was still as dull as ever.

Gibbs turned to Tony, "What's going on here, DiNozzo?"

"SCORPIA didn't kill Jack. It was Blunt." Alex bit out angrily.

Tony stepped up and put a hand on Alex's arm.

"Alex, let Gibbs handle this."He said.

"No, Tony! Gibbs, doesn't get to handle this, Jack was _my _friend, not his." Alex said before turning a glare back to Blunt.

"Alex, just-" Tony started.

"No, Tony. Go ahead, Alex." Gibbs said, making the call and stepping back slightly to let Alex have his go at the man.

"Why?" Alex demanded loudly.

"Alex, where did you hear this?" Blunt hedged.

"From me," Ben said, stepping into the screen's view where previously he had been lurking in the shadows of MTAC's darkness.

Gibbs was momentarily stunned by seeing the Englishman's presence but it didn't show on his face. He had seen someone come in with his team but didn't see who it was exactly.

Blunt leveled his stare to his agent.

"Agent Daniels, I don't remember authorizing a trip to DC. Just what sort of stories have you been feeding the boy?"

"No stories, just the truth. You were debriefing me in your office and you stepped out for some reason. You had left the contract you used to hire the assassin to kill Jack Starbright." Ben accused.

"Daniels, do you know the consequences for snooping around on MI6 affairs you have not been assigned to?"

"Mr. Blunt, to _you_ know the consequences for killing an _American _on American soil?" Vance put in firmly.

"Director, even if there _had_ been a document stating that, it would have been put in the incinerator before the end of the day. You have no case." Blunt said confidently.

Though that confidence was short lived as Ben stepped forward with a smile on his face. He reached into his inside jacket pocket and he produced a packet of papers.

"Well, I'm glad I made copies before leaving your office then." Ben said, handing the papers to Vance.

The Director immediately mulled over the papers before looking up at the man on the screen.

"It looks like you have some explaining to do, Mr. Blunt."

"And apparently so does NCIS. MI6 records all phone calls. So we have Alex clearly stating that he wanted to leave NCIS and come home. If you keep him there I'll have NCIS brought up on charges. Send the boy to London. He's not worth your agency's reputation, Vance." Blunt said, his voice becoming like ice. He knew he was caught and he was grasping at straws.

Gibbs' anger riled up at Blunt's last comment. After all Alex had done for the man he was still going to say that he was worthless. He missed his chance to express his anger as a noisy black whirlwind flew into MTAC.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs! We got it! It's here...Oh, am I interrupting something?" Abby asked as she saw everyone's hard expression. She thrust papers into Gibbs' hands with no explanation as to what they were.

"What is it, Abby?" Gibbs asked as he grabbed the papers and held them at a length, cursing himself for not having his glasses on hand.

Finally, Leroy Gibbs smiled widely, which the whole team knew meant bad news for Blunt.

Gibbs stepped up beside Alex who looked livid enough to reach through the screen and choke Blunt.

Curiously Alex spared a glance at Gibbs, wondering what the man was up to.

"Alex Rider isn't going anywhere, because I said so." Gibbs said firmly.

"You'll learn quickly, Gibbs, that what you say has no power in this matter."

"Oh, I think you'll find that it does," Abby put in wisely, winking at Alex but was slightly put out when the teen just turned away from her.

McGee put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head slowly. He drew her beside him and Ziva. He whispered the situation into her ear.

By the time McGee was done Abby had tears in her eyes as she looked at Alex.

"What's going on here?" Blunt demanded.

"Alex has been adopted. By me. And _my kid_ is not going anywhere." Gibbs said.

"You can't do that." Blunt in a rock hard voice.

Gibbs shrugged. "Why not? His only living guardian's dead. And even before that she signed her rights away to me. Even if Alex is technically left to MI6 or 'the bank'. You'd have to put him in an orphanage. What? Did you think that if Jack Starbright was dead you'd have free access to the kid? I don't think so. The documentation is legal and it was made permanent at eight this morning. Seeing as it's now five in the afternoon I'd say you're a little late to try to stop it."

"Really?" Alex suddenly asked looking incredulously at Gibbs.

Gibbs nodded and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, "It's over, Alex."

Blunt's voice suddenly boomed out of the speakers.

"I guess you've finally managed to wiggle yourself out of this, Rider. I'm sure your uncle and father would be real proud." Blunt said icily. He obviously knew he was losing this battle.

"Leave them out of this," Alex ordered.

"Why would I do that? They're the reason you were in this mess in the first place, are they not? They both wanted you to follow in their footsteps, Alex. If they were here now they would think of you as such a disappointment. John wanted nothing more than a son to follow in his place. And look what you've done. You went out and replaced both your uncle and father with a man you barely know. What does that say about you? You obviously don't care as much about your family as you lead people to believe."

Alex's face had become red faced with anger but Gibbs voiced himself before the teen could.

"You bastard! You're actually willing to turn this around on Alex to make him look like the asshole here. The fact that the teen's managed to keep himself together as long as he has is incredible. You've put the kid through Hell and he's still survived. And how do you repay him? By killing the last person in the world that makes him feel normal. I know for a fact that Ian _and_ John Rider would be damn proud of Alex."

"Oh? And just how do you know that, Gibbs?" Blunt asked.

Gibbs turned his dead serious eyes to the teen and Alex could only stare back at the man, his stare to powerful to look away from.

"Because I am." Gibbs said firmly.

Alex blinked in surprise. He couldn't move. Gibbs had just told him he was proud of him, and he felt a surge of confidence run through him. That hadn't happened since Ian told him he was proud of him.

Alex turned back to Blunt.

"Why? What was so important to you that you had to kill her? She had nothing to do with this!"

Alan Blunt was silent so Gibbs stepped up.

"He thought that if Jack was dead you would have no choice but to come back and this was an upside for him because you would be at his disposal all the time."

"So, she died for nothing? I hope you rot in Hell, Blunt." Alex said in a low tone that vaguely gave Gibbs chills.

"Alan, I think we're done here. You'll probably hear from NCIS again real soon. Jack Starbright's death is not going to go unsolved. And right now the evidence is piling against you." Vance said before turning to the MTAC tech and signaling him to cut the feed just as Blunt began to talk.

All was suddenly silent in the room until Alex abruptly turned and walked out.

"What if he leaves?" Abby asked suddenly.

"He won't," Tony said confidently.

Gibbs turned to Tony, "What did you say to him?"

Tony smiled, embarrassed. He didn't want to have to tell his Boss what he said to the teen in the elevator, "Nothing special, Boss. Trust me, he's not going to leave the building."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows but nodded in acceptance.

"Leon, I want Blunt taken down. A man like that shouldn't have that much power." He said.

"I agree. I'm going to take care of it," Vance assured before giving the man a nod, "Not that I can condone what you did as your Boss, but you did a good job protecting the boy."

Gibbs shrugged but didn't reply.

"Boss? Shouldn't one of us go check on him? Just in case? I mean, he shouldn't be alone, right?" Tony asked.

"I will go after him," Ziva said, not waiting for an answer as she walked swiftly out of the dark room.

Mcgee and Tony exchanged questioning looks with each other before Tony finally got up the courage to voice their uncertainty.

"Do you think that's a good idea, Boss?"

Gibbs shrugged again.

"She can't make it any worse, DiNozzo." He said as he started to walk out of MTAC**(2)**.

Secretly Gibbs was confident Ziva could handle what Alex was feeling. Betrayal. Ziva David knew exactly how that felt, and probably more so than anyone on the team. She could help him through this.

He heard clomping steps following him.

"What is it, Abby?" Gibbs asked without turning around or breaking his stride as he made his way down to his desk.

"Well, since the adoption is complete it's only fair that we celebrate." Abby stated.

Gibbs gave her an incredulous look.

"Abs, Jack just _died_. Alex isn't going to want to celebrate anything."

Abby gave him a 'duh' look. A look that only Abby Scuito could get away with giving Gibbs.

"I know that, Bossman! It doesn't have to be anytime soon. But I was thinking maybe we could fly in Alex's friend, Tom. Alex told me you suggested it to him once already. So, I figured Tom could visit and maybe that one girl Tony keeps asking Alex about...uh...Sabina, right?"

Gibbs looked up at Abby's hopeful eyes and he knew he was fighting a losing battle.

"Yeah, go ahead. Just don't spring this on Alex before he's had time to cope. Understand?"

Abby straightened her back and saluted Gibbs before clomping loudly back down to her lab.

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Ziva entered the gym, suspecting that the teen would be there. Her suspicions were confirmed when she spotted the blonde with boxing gloves on. Alex was in the process of pounding on every inch he could find on the punching bag in front of him.

She knew he was trying to let off as much steam as he could, not wanting the misplaced anger to spill out and accidentally be taken out on someone else.

Thinking quickly she slipped off her jacket and shoes. Ziva grabbed a pair of gloves and jumped up into the boxing ring. Alex had yet to notice her, too lost in his own thoughts.

She slipped on the gloves and leaned against the ropes. The former assassin let out one sharp whistle to get the boy's attention.

When Alex looked up at her she motioned him into the ring silently.

With small hesitation Alex hoisted himself up into the ring to join the woman.

Wordlessly Ziva fell into a fighting stance and slowly Alex did the same, watching the woman's every move.

Then, without warning, Ziva lashed out with her gloved fist, knowing that the teen would easily dodge it.

And just like that their sparring began.

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Abby was worried about Alex. She didn't think that leaving him alone was a good idea so when she left MTAC she scurried around the building until she found him in the gym. And she was surprised to see that the teen was not alone. Ziva was there fighting erratically with the boy in the boxing ring. Her eyes welled up as she thought of how much pain Alex had to be in.

So, sensing that this would be a moment not to be missed, she whipped out her phone and hit the speed dial that would connect her with their fearless leader.

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Alex dished everything back to Ziva in an aggressive manner. But Ziva didn't mind, she knew the boy needed a release, something to take his anger out on. So, she took the defensive position, blocking every move Alex threw at her. Sometimes it was just barely, but nonetheless, she was blocking them. Alex had been trained exceptionally well for his age. Ian Rider definitely wanted to make sure his nephew was prepared for the spy world.

After awhile, Ziva noticed that Alex's moves had become more and more aggressive and she knew she was going to have to put an end to the fight soon or someone was going to get hurt.

The assassin started throwing restraining moves onto the boy, trying to get him to ease up, Alex seemed to notice this and he eased up until he stopped and sat heavily down on the floor of the ring.

Ziva did the same and for a few moments they worked on getting their breathe under control.

Alex finally sighed.

"Thanks, Ziva." He said quietly as he pulled off his gloves.

"You are welcome. Sparring helps me blow off steam also. I know that there is really nothing I can say to make you feel better. I know it hurts losing someone that had no reason to die. I also know it hurts to feel betrayed."

Alex's head popped up questioningly.

"My family has just as many problems as you do, Alex. Maybe even more." Ziva said with a bitter smile.

Alex sighed, " I don't know what to do now." He said with a hint of helplessness in his tone.

Ziva nodded, "Gibbs is undoubtedly going to take Alan Blunt down. That's something you really do not have to worry about. What you can do is let the team and myself be there for you. I do not think that Jack would want you to brood over this forever."

The two were silent for awhile before Ziva urged him to get up and they stepped out of the ring together.

Looking at the gym doors Alex was surprised to see not only Abby and Gibbs but McGee and Tony standing there watching them.

Ziva and Alex walked slowly up to the group. And immediately Abby stepped close to Alex.

Alex looked depressingly up at the goth.

"Hey, Abby," Alex greeted quietly.

At the boy's sad, helpless voice Abby couldn't stop the tears that rolled down her face as she wrapped him in one of the biggest hugs she had ever given to anyone.

"I'm so sorry, Alex." She whispered into his ear.

And surprisingly the teen wrapped his arms around Abby to return the hug. Usually he just patted her awkwardly on the back until she let go.

"Me too, Abby," Alex whispered back.

They both stayed together silently for awhile before Alex finally pulled away, embarrassed as he averted his eyes from the team.

He looked over the the general direction of Gibbs and sighed. He had messed up again and once again the older man was having to fix his mistake. He knew that, like last time, Gibbs wasn't going to let what he did go either. But he owed the man that much at least. At the moment though the only thing he could think about was getting a shower, eating, and going to bed. The turn of today's event was taking a mental toll on him and he honestly didn't think it was going to get any worse.

Gibbs looked expectantly at the boy, waiting on him to speak.

Alex finally caved as the man's piercing blue stare bored into him.

"Gibbs? I want to go home." He said quietly.

"Alex..." Gibbs warned, mistaking his words.

"Uh, I meant your house, Gibbs. Not London. I'm sorry," Alex corrected himself.

Gibbs' face softened somewhat as he put an arm around the boy's shoulder.

"Your home now, too. Come on." He said.

As they passed the team Gibbs looked to Tony, "Taking a personal day. Tell Vance." He said before walking out of the gym with his teenager in tow.

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Gibbs pulled his car into the driveway but neither man nor boy started to get out.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Gibbs asked simply.

Alex shook his head.

"No...At least, not yet." He replied.

"Fair enough. But we _are_ going to talk," Gibbs said firmly.

Alex nodded and got out of the Challenger.

They both made their way into the house and they were met by a wonderful country style home cooked smell coming from the kitchen.

"Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, and fried okra. Boy are you in for a dinner tonight. One thing Jackson Gibbs can do is cook." Gibbs said, naming off all the things cooking in the kitchen just from the smell.

Then, the older man hobbled into the living room where they were currently standing to greet them.

"I wasn't expecting you two home so soon. The chicken's not done yet." Jackson said.

"That's okay. I'm going to grab a shower anyways." Alex said before making a beeline for the stairs, not wanting to be there when Gibbs told his father the reason why they were home so soon.

"Is it just me, or is that kid more depressed now than when you left this morning?" Jack asked.

Gibbs sighed and walked into the kitchen so they could watch the food as Gibbs broke the news to his father.

"Dad, that boy's life is in shambles. The organization that's after Alex didn't kill Jack. The head of MI6 did it. He thought if he killed Jack, Alex would have no choice but to come back to London. Her death was absolutely pointless. Alex is angry, you know he is. He's just so...quiet about it. I don't know how to handle that."

Jackson stared in dismay.

"MI6 killed that boy's guardian? Leroy, tell me you're not going to let this go." The man said loudly.

Gibbs gave his father a humorless laugh, "trust me, dad, that man won't have a leg to stand on when I'm through with him."

Jackson nodded his acceptance.

"And as for the way Alex expresses his pain, you really are the pot calling the kettle black, Leroy. Getting an emotion out of you is like pulling teeth."

"I'm not fourteen, Dad."

"No, but you both have been exposed to unspeakable things in your life. In a lot of ways you and Alex are the same."

With that, Jackson turned back to his cooking and left his son sitting at the kitchen table, thinking.

"What stopped MI6 from taking Alex?" Jack asked after awhile.

Gibbs pulled out the adoption papers and gave them to his father.

"Congratulations, it's a boy." Gibbs said fondly.

Jackson's lips turned upward into a smile as he read through the papers.

"Well, I'll be damned. Leroy, I want you to know I loved that little girl, but I wanted her to be a boy so much it hurt." He laughed.

Gibbs let out a small faint smile of his own.

"Me too, until I saw her." He said as he thought back to the day his baby girl was born and thoughts of watching a son score a winning touchdown in football quickly morphed into thoughts of seeing his daughter become whatever it is she wanted to be.

But those thoughts had crashed and burned nearly twenty years ago. He felt vaguely guilty about taking Alex in, at first it felt like he was replacing his family. But, seeing Alex hurt today made him realize that Shannon would have immediately took the child in and Kelly had always wanted a brother. He knew he had made the right decision and that both of his girls would have been proud and supported him.

Gibbs watched as his father finished cooking the chicken and put them on a plate on the kitchen table along with the rest of the food.

They waited patiently for Alex to come down before they began to eat, as Jackson read through the adoption papers.

"Alex kept his name?" He asked after awhile.

Gibbs nodded.

"Officially his name is John Alexander Rider-Gibbs. But that'll just be for legal reasons. He'll still go by Alex Rider. I didn't want to completely erase his past, it isn't all bad." He explained.

Jackson nodded in agreement as Alex stumbled into the room, running a hand through his wet hair.

"Sorry," he said as he realized that they were waiting on him so they could eat.

"Nothing to be sorry for, son. Let's eat," Jackson said as he fixed Alex a huge plate and put it in front of the boy.

Alex was grateful as Gibbs and his father wisely didn't mention anything about the events of the day. They kept the conversation with Jackson telling stories of his son's somewhat embarrassing past in Stillwater. Alex did his best to follow the stories but he found that he couldn't focus on anything. He picked at his food, missing the stare that Gibbs was giving him from the other side of the table.

Finally, Alex stood up and took his plate over to the sink.

"I'm going to bed. I'll see you both in the morning." He stated before making his way out of the room.

Gibbs let the teen go and he stayed downstairs until his father finally decided to turn in. He made sure the older man was comfortable before making his way upstairs. He and Alex needed to talk and there was no time like the present. He knew the teen didn't want to talk about Jack but the stunt he pulled with Blunt had to be addressed. Alex couldn't go running back to London every time things got rough here.

He knocked softly on Alex's door, but when he got no response he jerked the door open expecting to find that the teen had pulled another disappearing act. Gibbs' thoughts were put to bay when he saw that Alex had fallen asleep. He was laying on top of the covers with the light on. He saw that Alex was shivering slightly from the chill in the room.

Gibbs walked to his room and pulled out a fluffy blanket that Shannon had made right before Kelly was born and brought it back to the boy's room.

Gibbs quietly draped it over Alex so he wouldn't have to wake the blonde up to get him under the comforter. He was pleased when Alex wrapped himself more firmly into the blanket and settled down for the rest of the night.

Gibbs stayed in the room for a few more moments, just watching his new child. He knew he had his hands full and that calling Alex a child could be debatable but it wasn't going to stop Gibbs. He knew his job was to give Alex a life that was as normal as possible and he vowed that he would do just that.

"Good night, Alex." He said softly before turning to make his way to his room to change into something more comfortable before going down to relax with the most therapeutic way he knew how.

Boat, bourbon, basement.**(3)**

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Alex didn't know what woke him up. It could have been the yelling or the crashing noises or the gunshots. Either way he was up and so was something else.

He grabbed his cell and quickly dialed Tony's number. It rang three times before the man answered.

"DiNozzo." He announced sleepily.

"Tony, you have to get over here. I think-" Alex began just as his door was kicked open and three armed men barreled into the room. One of them being the one and only Eric Yokov.

"Put the phone down, Alex."

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No matter how many times Tony saw the movie Pulp Fiction he could never get tired of it. Although tonight he barely made it through the first fifteen minutes before he nodded off.

He was woken by the loud sound of his phone going off, not even opening his eyes he pulled out his phone.

"DiNozzo."

Then Alex's hushed voice rose him completely out of his sleep.

"Tony, you have to get over here. I think-"

Then there was a loud bang and Tony could just make out someone telling Alex to put the phone down before the line went dead.

But by then Tony was already on his feet. He only took the time to grab his sig before barreling out of the house, not even pausing to lock the door. He had nothing on put his Ohio State hoodie and loose fitting pajama pants. He was glad that this was the one night he decided not to sleep in his underwear.

"Damn it! I knew he should have had more back up." DiNozzo muttered as he ran to his car.

He whipped out his phone and called his partners. He could only hope that Gibbs could manage to hold them off for the ten minutes it was going to take Tony to get to his house. It took a good twenty to get to his house but Tony was determined to shave ten off of that tonight. Though for some reason he had a feeling Ziva would still beat him there and she lived thirty minutes away from the Gibbs household.

He squealed out of this parking space and sped off to his Boss' house. And as predicted, somehow Ziva David arrived at the house just as he did. Poor Magoo was going to have to take some driving lessons from Ziva and Gibbs soon.

Tony and Ziva got stealthily out of their cars. They saw that Gibbs' front door was standing wide open and they knew that when he had company, especially kid company, the door was always locked.

Their guns drawn they made their way to the house, not pausing to wait for their partner. Lights were on in the house and they could only assume the enemy was still in the house. They silently hovered at the front door and, leaning against the wall with his gun drawn, he looked into the house. He saw a car approaching and he identified it as McGee's. In the living room he could make out a two pairs of feet sticking out. Tony's stomach sank as he motioned for Ziva and McGee to enter the house with him.

They entered the room and Tony nearly stumbled as he saw Jackson Gibbs sprawled out on the floor unconscious.

"Stay with him," Tony ordered to Ziva, who knelt down to the elder man and felt for a pulse.

Mcgee and Tony secured the rest of the house. It was a mess. Their boss obviously put up a horrific fight.

They entered Alex's room dreadfully, almost scared to find out what was in it. Tony looked away as he saw blood a bloody hand print on the bed. But other than that the room was intact.

They went to the basement and there was two bodies laying on the stairs. Guns shot wounds.

"Clear," Tony called down to Ziva as He and McGee raced back down to the living room to see to Jackson.

Mcgee was already on the phone with an ambulance.

Tony could hear his inner Gibbs' voice echoing through his head.

_"DiNozzo, if something happens to my father on your watch I'll have your head on a platter."_

Tony looked at the man and he looked fine with the exception of the huge bruise forming near his temple.

Tony went to step closer when he stepped on a hand. He looked down in surprise to see a unidentified dead body.

_"I didn't notice a dead body...Obviously I've been doing this job too long."_

He looked to see that the man's neck had been snapped. Marine style.

Tony smiled, he knew his boss wasn't going to go down without taking them with him.

Much to the team's relief Jackson gave a loud groan of pain as he eyes opened.

"What happened?" Jackson asked sluggishly. Tony noted the slur in his words too. Concussion.

Jackson sat himself up, grabbing his head in pain as he did so.

"You should lie back down. We do not know all of your injuries. You could be seriously hurt." Ziva persuaded.

"The ambulance is on it's way." McGee offered.

"What happened? Where's Leroy and Alex?" He asked sternly.

Tony looked to McGee and Ziva.

"I think SCORPIA attacked and they took Gibbs and Alex." He finally said.

"Do you remember anything?" McGee asked.

Jackson was silent for a moment.

"Six men busted through the door and Leroy was on them in a second, attempting to take them all. Three of them were trying to make their way up the stairs to Alex and I tried to stop them...then everything went black." Jackson recalled.

Tony sighed. This was heavy. He could hear the ambulance in the yard now. He stood up to let them in and to explain the situation, not wanting them to get the wrong idea when they saw the dead body.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Ducky's number.

"McGee, call Abby. We'll need her." Tony said just as Ducky answered the phone.

"And just _why_ do you and McGee require Abby and myself at this time of night, Anthony?"

"SCORPIA attacked. They have Alex and Gibbs. We got three bodies at Gibbs' house. Apparently the Bossman refused to go down quietly." Tony said.

"Where's Gibbs' father?" Ducky asked.

"Sitting on the floor with a bruise on his head the size of a baseball and it's still getting bigger. The paramedics are checking him out though." Tony assured.

"Well, in that case, I'm on my way my dear boy. Hold the fort down until Mr. Palmer and myself can arrive."

"You got it, Ducky." Tony said, ending the call.

McGee looked overwhelmed as he also ended his call.

"Next time I get to call Ducky and _you_ get to call Abby! She freaked!"

"Sorry, Probie." Tony said cheekily.

Ziva came over to them silently.

"They are admitting Jackson to the hospital for the remainder of the night to watch him." She reported calmly, "I gave them all of our numbers so they can keep us costed."

"Posted, Zee-vah," Tony said with a smile.

They were all keeping calm on the outside, but each of them on the inside was shaking like a leaf. Alex and their fearless leader were in a boatload of trouble.

**A/N- Hiya people:D**

** (1)- okay, you know how Vance refers to the NCIS agency as 'his house'? ….Yeah that's where that came from.**

** (2)- This is my bad. I keep forgetting that some people read the Alex Rider books but haven't really seen a lot of NCIS and that some readers have only seen NCIS but have not read the Alex Rider series. And for that I am very grateful that you're willing to be mildly confused just to read my story! It's very sweet! **

** But a lot of the abbreviations (mainly NCIS abbreviations) confuse people. So, if I do something that confuses you but I don't explain it just PM me and I'll get you up to speed.**

** So, MTAC stands for Multiple Threat Alert Center. It's like a big movie theater room that, on NCIS, they use to talk to people far away on like Navy ships, or from people from other countries. Lol, it's a really neat room. I love it when they use it.**

** (3)- Ah, the famous three B's on NCIS. Tony says that in one episode...I can't remember which one.**

** I hope you guys liked it...The end was a bit rushed I think buuut oh, well. I love cliffhangers...though you people probably want to kill me for doing this to you time after timeXD.**

** NCIS update- I'm soooo excited! I've read season 8 spoilers recently and I cannot WAIT until the 21st of September. Gibbs is going to kick some ass! If you do not know the NCIS spoilers and you would like to know them let me know and I would LOVE to PM you them I'm itching to talk about them:D.(Technically they're not spoilers they're little teasers and hints to get you psyched for the season.)**

** The one thing I am going to post on here about season 8 is the episode names...cause they make you think:D**

** episode one- The Spider and The Fly**

** episode two- Worst Nightmare**

** episode three- Short Fuse**

** episode four- Royals and Loyals**

** episode five- Dead Air**

** Hope you're all excited as I am:D**


	21. Chapter 21

"So, SCORPIA agents enter a house and kidnap two people out of a home and no one saw anything other than the van they took them away in?" Tony asked from his seat in the bullpen.

"Keep in mind quite a few of Gibbs' neighbors are elderly people, Tony." Ziva replied.

Tony nodded as he stood up.

"I'm going to go down to Ducky's. Maybe he's got something useful. We've got nothing to go on from here." Tony said frustratedly.

Once he was in the elevator alone he sighed heavily and hung his head. He hated it when Gibbs was gone or MIA. Tony felt helpless that he couldn't watch Gibbs' six, it felt wrong.

As the elevator doors opened on the floor of the autopsy Tony quickly composed himself. He was the Senior Field Agent. That meant he stepped into Gibbs' shoes when their Boss couldn't be there. And to stand in Gibbs' shoes took a lot of effort, after all, they were pretty big shoes to fill.

"What've you got for me, Duck?" Tony asked as he strolled into the autopsy room with ease.

Ducky looked up from his spot over a dead body, courtesy of Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"Hello, Anthony. It's good to see you, under the circumstances." Ducky greeted.

"Looks like these guys should have called in sick. Gibbs really did a number on them." Tony said looking at the bodies occupying the autopsy tables.

"Ah yes, Jethro did not hold back on these fellows. But we know how much Gibbs looks after his family," Ducky said.

"This man," Ducky went on, gesturing to the man he was wrist deep in, "was killed by a bullet wound to the stomach. He had a very slow death. Not that that really matters."

Then Ducky turned directly behind him and pointed to the body on the steel table behind him.

"This man's death was a bit quicker. A very quick snap to the neck. There's also signs of defensive wounds which mean that he and Gibbs went quite a few rounds before Gibbs killed him. The other two men were also killed with a bullet. One directly into the heart and the other right through the head. The blood that was found in Alex's room was luckily not his either." He finished.

"So do you have anything for us to go on? We're getting nowhere upstairs." Tony said.

Ducky nodded and went over to his desk, he pushed the button that would bring him into a video chat with Abby from her lab.

The video connected and you could hear Abby's loud music blasting incoherently through the speakers. Suddenly the Goth's face appeared.

"Duckman, I got those clothes you gave me and you were right! There was quite a bit of residue on their clothes. Probably from a factory of some sort. I'm still not done with the test yet to find out exactly what it is. But my babies are nearly done." Abby said determinedly. Her silver haired fox and her new best friend Alex were her top priority at the moment and she refused to let them down.

"Speed it up, Abs. They could be half way across the country right now." Tony interjected.

Abby huffed, "Tony, you can't rush science. Geez, you're as bad as Gibbs." She stopped short at the mention of the man.

Tony sighed lightly.

"I know, Abs. Just...call me as soon as you have something," he relented.

"You got it, Temporary Bossman." Abby said just as she ended the video chat.

Ducky turned and patted Tony lightly on the back.

"Don't worry, Anthony, You'll find them. Gibbs isn't going to let anything happen to them."

"Yeah, but who's going to look after him?" Tony muttered as he left..

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Gibbs groggily opened his eyes and looked around...not that there was much to look at. He had been put into a room with no windows and the only lighting he had was a rectangular fluorescent light that was flickering on and off. It almost looked like he was in a basement. As he came to his senses he realized that Alex was no where in the room. He stood up and swayed dizzily. His head didn't hurt which told him that he had undoubtedly been drugged.

He went to the door and rammed his shoulder into it in hopes that it would budge but he had no luck. He shivered violently. The temperature in the room was nearly unbearable. He was glad that he had a jacket on when SCORPIA had come, and they had left it on him.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair.

The last thing he remembered was Yokov dragging Alex roughly down the stairs and his father sprawled out on the floor, unconscious. Anger flared up as he remembered seeing his father like that. This was no longer just about Alex, now it was personal for Gibbs and he wasn't going to rest until Eric Yokov was no longer breathing.

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Gibbs was sitting against the wall when they came back into the room. Two guards threw the door open and stood on each side of it with their guns drawn as if taunting Gibbs to try to make a run for it.

Then Yokov walked in, dragging, more than carrying, Alex. Gibbs stood up quickly, glaring as he saw that the teen was bruised and unconscious. Yokov smiled at Gibbs before shoving Alex towards him. Gibbs shot forward to grab the boy before he hit the concrete floor. He looked closer to see that there was blood on the teen's shirt from a unknown source.

He sat Alex down and turned to face Yokov who was watching the scene play out.

"Well, isn't this such a sweet moment?" He snarked, "You're a model father, Gibbs."

Gibbs glared but kept his mouth shut.

He knew he couldn't do anything yet. He was outnumbered and he still had no idea where he was. He knew his team was no doubt looking, he just had to keep himself and Alex alive until Tony and the team tracked them down.

"You know how to hold your temper. That's a good thing, Gibbs. Your son doesn't seem to be able to do the same." Yokov observed.

Gibbs kept his face neutral.

"My son?" He asked simply.

"Yes, you're son. Did you think that we wouldn't know about you're little adoption? SCORPIA has eyes and ears everywhere. You did a great job keeping him away from MI6. Too bad you couldn't do the same about us." Eric answered.

Gibbs ignored him and turned to look at the boy.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Gibbs asked as he bent down to Alex.

Yokov shrugged, "Apparently the drugs in his system wore off quicker than yours and he decided to cause problems. You might want to try disciplining your child. It looks like he needs it."

"What he needs is for you people to leave him alone."

"I'm afraid that's not possible. He's caused too many problems and personally the brat's really starting to get under my skin." Yokov said with disgust as he walked to the door and out of the room.

Gibbs waited until the door was closed and locked before he attempted to rouse Alex.

"Alex? Come on, wake up." He ordered as he shook the teen's shoulders.

As Alex started to groan and wake up Gibbs noticed that the boy's right eye was nearly swollen shut and his lip was bleeding sluggishly.

The teen sat up slowly and looked around at his surroundings before his eyes landed on Gibbs. He quickly averted his eyes with guilt in them.

"Where are you bleeding?" Gibbs asked as he looked Alex over.

The blonde looked up at Gibbs in confusion before it dawned on him and he gently held out his arm and flipped it over the the underside to reveal a long gauge in his forearm.

"When they were dragging me I fell and scraped my arm all to hell. I've had a tetanus shot recently so I should be okay." He said quietly as Gibbs came closer to inspect the wound.

Alex jumped when Gibbs unexpectedly probed around the scratch.

"That hurt?" He asked quietly.

"Well it certainly didn't feel good," Alex retorted.

"I think it's already infected. Not too bad, but infection has set in."

The teen shrugged and hugged his injured arm protectively back to himself.

"Not much we can do about it right now." He said.

They were silent for awhile until Gibbs noticed that Alex was shivering on the cold floor and Gibbs winced as he saw that the boy was only in a thin t-shirt and pajama pants. If Gibbs was cold with his jacket on he could only imagine what Alex was feeling.

The older man immediately shrugged off his jacket and draped it over the teen as he sat down beside him.

Alex blushed and shook his head. He grabbed the jacket and held it back out to Gibbs.

"You don't have to do that. I'm fine." He said in a raspy voice. Looking closer, Gibbs could see dark bruising around the blonde's neck. Some one had choked him.

Gibbs' anger flashed in his veins. He put the jacket more securely over the boy and said, "Leave it."

Alex did so but looked over a Gibbs.

"I'm sorry you got pulled into this." He said.

"Don't apologize- it's a sign of weakness." Gibbs said with a light tap to the back of the teen's head.

Alex smiled lightly at the notion but winced as it caused pain to his split lip.

"Is that another rule?" He asked.

"It's the golden one." Gibbs explained.

They were silent for awhile, both lost in their own thoughts.

"We're not in DC anymore." Alex stated slowly.

Gibbs looked over at the boy.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"No...or at least I don't think we are. I saw a newspaper on the way down here. It was from Maryland."

Gibbs blew out a breathe. Maryland. Well that certainly put a damper on things. Yes, they were still close to DC but it would still make it harder for the team to find them.**(1)**

"Do you have any idea where we're being held?" He asked. If they were in Maryland they were in luck because he at least knew his way around a bit.

"No, I woke up in the house. We're near in a beach house though. You can hear the waves hitting the shore. The house is probably secluded though. It's deserted too. Only a couple agents guarding the place."

The older man nodded and shifted into a more comfortable position.

They were going to be here for awhile.

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Gibbs sat in silence for nearly an hour and a half, Alex was dozing beside him and he could feel the boy's body inching closer to him as he started to slump to one side. The older man allowed a smile to grace his lips slightly as Alex leaned on him. Just like Kelly had when they she would fall asleep in the middle of a movie on movie night.

The moment was spoiled, however, when four armed men entered the room, making Alex jerk up and awake.

Gibbs and Alex both stood up and Gibbs saw Alex drop his jacket, not wanting anything to happen to it.

"Let's go," one of the men ordered, waving his gun at them.

Both of them had no choice but to follow the man's orders. Gibbs positioned himself closest to the guards, wanting Alex as far away from the men as possible.

Alex's mind was filled with dread as he walked into a empty room with two single wooden chairs. He could feel Gibbs being shoved behind him. They were both manhandled into the chairs and tied to them. Then the guards silently exited the room.

Both of the chairs were facing each other but very far away from each other.

Alex looked at Gibbs who was trying to find leeway in his restraints.

The teen held his breath as the door behind him flew open with a loud band. A shiver ran up his spine as Yokov laid his hand on Alex's shoulder in a mock friendly gesture. The boy's stomach clench as he re-lived the pain those same hands had caused him.

Gibbs noticed how uncomfortable he was and he glared menacingly at the man. Unfortunately, Yokov noticed the boy's tension too, and he tightened his grip painfully on the teen's shoulder. Alex didn't react but his face became hardened. He knew this was not going to end well.

"Ah, Agent Gibbs. It's great to finally meet you. It's good that you could join us this time." Yokov greeted.

The assassin moved into the middle of the two chairs and fully into Alex's line of vision. Alex could now see that Yokov held a file in his hands, which made Alex curious but not enough to ask.

Yokov was ignoring Alex, facing Gibbs completely as he opened the file.

"SCORPIA has found quite a bit of information about you, Agent Gibbs. You have quite a track record." He said.

Gibbs shrugged the best he could through his restraints.

"Didn't know I was that popular." He replied offhandedly.

Yokov chuckled.

"Oh, yes, you are. As a matter of fact, what we found out about you was quite interesting. You really did love your wife and child didn't you, Agent Gibbs? Their murder really was unfair, was it not?" He asked.

Gibbs' face looked livid as the man mentioned his girls.

"I don't see how that's important at the moment," he bit out.

"You'll find it means a lot, especially to Alex here," Yokov said, gesturing to the boy.

"Tell us, Agent Gibbs, how did you avenge your family's death? I'm sure Alex would love to hear the story."

Gibbs looked at the man for a moment before replying.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Yokov smiled widely.

"I figured that'd be your answer." He said before promptly turning around to face Alex.

He approached the boy and punched the boy repeatedly in the stomach.

Alex tried not to cry out but by the fourth hit he couldn't help but groan loudly.

There was a ringing in his ears but the whole time he could hear Gibbs yelling.

"Damn it! Stop! Yes, I killed the man that killed my family. Now leave him alone!"

Alex sighed as Yokov stopped hitting his stomach and turned back around to Gibbs.

The man nodded appreciatively, "You caught on quicker than I thought, Gibbs. Here's how it's going to work. I ask the questions and unless they're answered correctly and properly, Alex is going to have a very bad day."

Panting, Alex thought he was going to be sick. His stomach was protesting violently, but he managed to hold back the vomit.

But Alex registered what Gibbs had said. Or at least he thought he did.

"Agent Gibbs, maybe you should elaborate just a bit. Alex looks a bit confused." Yokov suggested as he pulled out a large knife out of his pocket and flicked it open. He started to walk in a circle around the teen.

Alex looked over at Gibbs and noticed the pain these memories were bringing to the man.

"Gibbs, you don't have to..." But he was cut off as Yokov punched him square in the jaw.

"I forgot to mention that _you_ don't get to talk unless I ask you a question, Alex." Yokov said with a smile as he rubbed his knuckles.

"Carry on, Agent Gibbs. You won't be interrupted again."

Gibbs sighed. Telling this man what he did to Pedro Hernandez was not on the top of his lists of things to do. And especially in front of Alex. He didn't know how the teen would take it. But, now he couldn't really see a way out of this, not with Alex's life in jeopardy.

Staring deep into Alex's pain filled eyes he began his tale.

"Pedro Hernandez was the boss of a Mexican drug cartel. Shannon witnessed a murder made by him and her and Kelly had to go into the witness protection program. Or they were about to. An agent was driving them to a safe house when a sniper shot the agent that was driving. They wrecked, and neither one of them made it. I was shipped out when it happened. I was a Gunnery Sergeant. A sniper. When I got back to the states, NCIS was looking into their murders. Mike Franks was the boss on the MCRT. He was leading the case. There was never enough evidence to convict Hernandez. So I took matters into my own hands. I went to Mexico with my sniper rifle...and I killed him. Then, I went back to DC and asked Mike Franks for a job." Gibbs said, not once taking his eyes off the boy. He wasn't going to mumble his way through this.

Alex stared back at him with an unreadable expression but stayed silent. So, Gibbs carried on.

"I'd like to say that I felt bad about it later. I mean I did kill a man in cold blood for revenge. But I don't. I don't think I ever will. He took my family away from me. I thought that killing Hernandez would make the hurt go away. But it didn't, hell, it probably made it worse. But I still don't regret it." He finished.

Alex was speechless. Gibbs just told him one of his deepest secrets. Something he had probably intended on taking to his grave.

Yokov chuckled again.

"That's a nice story, Agent Gibbs. So, Alex, how does it feel to be the child of a murderer? I know you didn't like it too much when you thought John Rider was an assassin. So, what do you think about Gibbs now? Are you as ashamed of him as you are your own father?" He asked.

Anger riled up in the teen instinctively.

"I'm not ashamed of my father." He bit out hoarsely.

"Aren't you? You want nothing to do with following in his footsteps. And on top of that you let a man adopt you, just to leave your old life behind. Although, I can't say I exactly blame you. John Rider was a weak man."

Alex huffed humorlessly.

"My father was _not_ weak." He said angrily.

"How would you know? You never met the man," Yokov said snidely.

The assassin knew just where to hurt Alex the most. Although he tried not to show it, the painful fact that he knew next to nothing about John Rider was kept deep down inside of him. But tonight Yokov refused to let that happen.

But Gibbs was fed up with watching the teen in pain.

"That's enough, Yokov. You may get your kicks out of a abusing a child but this is ridiculous. Let him go and I'll stay." He bargained, knowing it was a lost cause.

As predicted Yokov laughed, "you think your death would be equal to his? Think again, Agent Gibbs. Alex isn't going anywhere. The only reason you're here is to use as leverage. Rider won't try anything if he knows you're here. And it works vice versa. As a matter of fact I think it's time we had one of our little _meetings_ right now. Don't you think so, Alex?" Yokov asked as he walked out of the room to presumably fetch the guards.

Gibbs' stomach clenched. If this _meeting_ was anything like what he was thinking then Alex was in far more trouble than a couple of bruises.

He looked at Alex. The boy was obviously scared but doing his best not to show it.

"Alex, listen to me. We're _going_ to get out of this, you just have to hold on. I'm not going to let you die in here. I've got your six. You understand that?" He asked urgently, wanting to get in what he had to say before they came back.

Alex nodded tiredly and smiled.

"Tony told me that you never left a man behind," he said with a bloody smile as blood dripped from his cut lip.

Gibbs nodded with a smile of his own.

"That's right," he said. "I'm going to be with you through this every step of the way, understand? You just gotta hold on."

Gibbs knew he had no say in what was about to happen no matter how much he despised himself for it. Alex was about to get hurt and it was all his fault. He couldn't protect the kid. So, he did the next thing he could do; not let Alex give up.

Footsteps were beginning to edge closer to the door.

Alex nodded.

"I know, Gibbs. I'll be okay," he said quietly.

Gibbs nodded reluctantly. But he wasn't going to let this end here. He just had to wait until he was released from his bonds.

His plan was deferred as Yokov came in with his guards, carrying a liquid- filled syringe in his hand.

Yokov came over and, despite Gibbs' protests, emptied the contents into his veins.

"It's a sedative. We don't want you trying anything, now, do we?" He asked.

Gibbs could already feel the effects as his eyes began to droop.

He gave Alex one more reassuring look before passing out.

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Abby sighed as she looked at her screensaver that was currently a picture of Gibbs then she looked down to the picture in her hands that was Alex. She had pulled the picture from Alex's file that had been sent over. The pictures of them gave her some sense of security.

"Abby?" Tony's voice came from the doorway.

She turned around to see the whole team entering in her lab. McGee came over and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder which she gratefully accepted.

"I got the results back from what I found on the victims clothes. Surprisingly, it was sand. And traces of salt water. Where ever they're holding Alex and Gibbs, it's near the beach." She informed.

"Can you tell which beach?" Ziva asked.

"From the salinity in the water I can tell you about which _part_ of the ocean. It won't be much. The results should be up in about an hour."

Tony nodded, "At least with that we can narrow our BOLO searches. Meanwhile, we can check beaches near Maryland."

"Do you really think we're just going to get lucky, Tony? That we're going to just magically pick the right house that has Gibbs and Alex?" McGee asked.

"Well, it _beats_ the _Hell_ outta sitting around here on our butts doesn't it, Probie?" Tony asked frustratedly, walking out of the lab without looking back.

**A/N- ohhhhtay. Finally, I've been able to finish this! This chapter was NOT easy to write. I know it was shorter than what I've recently been writing but I felt real guilty for making you guys wait so long.**

**(1)- I'm not from DC or Maryland so you guys are going to have to bare with me on my locations.**

**And I know Gibbs may look a bit OOC now but it should all even out soon. Again bare with me here.**

…**.And with the forensics part? I made up that 'finding the salinity in the water' deal. I have no idea if it's true at all. It tried to look it up and all I got this really technical stuff that my little high school brain couldn't understandXD. I'm definitely no Abby Scuito. **

**As always I'm proud to thank ChakramVampire for helping me with this chapter. I'd still be on page one without her!:D Greatest Beta ever!**

**And I wanna thank everyone who's reviewed for this story! This story probably would not be what it is without your feedback! You guys are absolutely amazing:D**


	22. Chapter 22

Despite the situation they were in, McGee and Ziva couldn't help but smile at the things Tony got himself into.

They had went to investigate a few beach house locations in an attempt to find some sort of...hinky-ness going on. The only problem was that they entered the wrong kind of 'hinky'.

After the third house they entered Tony called it quits.

They had approached the house because some people had made complaints about noise. So, Tony and the team went to investigate. As the neared the house they heard screams of a woman. They drew their guns and Tony kicked the door in and they swiftly entered the house.

McGee and Ziva went in first and they searched the ground floor while Tony ascended atop the stairs. Loud music was playing but the screams of the woman was getting louder. He kicked in the bedroom door and...

Ziva watched as Tony ran back down the stairs with a shocked look on his face.

"Tony?" She asked.

"Gibbs isn't here, let's go." He said fast as he made for the door.

"Then who was screaming?" McGee asked.

Then an elderly couple came down the stairs...wrapped in nothing but sheets.

"What's the meaning of this?" The nude older man asked.

Ziva smothered her shocked face as he averted her eyes from the two people. She took out her badge and showed it to them.

"NCIS. There was complaints about yelling. We were in the neighborhood and we investigated it. We didn't mean to intrude on your... intersession." She explained bluntly.

"What?" The elderly woman asked.

"She means intercourse. And we apologize. I, uh, guess I didn't see the sock on the door." Tony said swiftly as he ushered his agents to the door.

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When Gibbs came to he realized that he was back in the basement. Angrily pushing his grogginess away, he sat up and looked around.

Spotting what he was looking for he stumbled over to the supine teenager laying on the ground.

He looked to see that the teen was naked from the waist up. He vaguely looked over to see that his shirt had been carelessly discarded in the far corner.

He was glad they had spared the boy's shirt, but his gratefulness was smothered as he looked closer to Alex's body. In the dim light he could see the sluggishly bleeding cuts all over his torso and back. The cuts weren't too bad, just enough to cause a tremendous amount of of pain. Yokov knew what he was doing, making the torture last for as long as possible without causing fatal damage. The cuts were on top of huge bruises which meant he had been hit again.

He saw a couple of bottles of water laying next to Alex. He vaguely wondered how long he had been knocked out.

Once again, he shook the teen in an attempt to wake him up.

After a few moments of rousing, Alex began to groan.

"Come on, Alex, wake up. You're as bad as Tony about lying down on the job." He said.

Alex's face contorted in pain and his breathe quickened.

"Tony says the way you work him, he's lucky if he gets any sleep at all." Alex bit out.

"I'm quite a bit older than DiNozzo, if I can handle it, so can he." Gibbs replied confidently.

Alex smiled at the one-sided bickering.

After a moment of silence Gibbs reached over and grabbed one of the bottles.

"You thirsty?" He asked.

Alex licked his lips greedily.

"You bet," he replied.

The teen tried to sit up but winced when he went to move.

"Here," Gibbs offered as he grabbed the teen by the shoulders and maneuvered him gently into a sitting position. But no matter how gentle the Marine was, Alex still groaned at the movement.

Gibbs found himself wincing at the boy's pain. He uncapped the bottle and handed it to the teen.

Alex brought the bottle to his mouth and began to drink greedily but Gibbs stopped him.

"Slowly. If you barf on me, the situation we're in now will seem like a tea party." Gibbs warned, but without heat. The same hollowed threats he used with his team.

That got a smile out of the boy and he began to drink a bit slower.

"I have no doubt." He lightly. Then Alex's eyes began to droop with exhaustion.

Gibbs knew that the boy had barely gotten a good nights rest before they had been caught. And even then he knew Alex hadn't slept well because of Jack. Gibbs couldn't believe what he was about to do.

He grabbed the shirt that was lying on the floor, and then gently took the bottle that was threatening to topple over from Alex's lax hand.

He sighed again.

"Alex, wake up." He ordered, "Those cuts have to be cleaned."

This time is was Alex who smiled deeply.

"I was hoping we could skip that little part." He muttered.

Gibbs smiled grimly.

"Yeah, me too. I'll be gentle." He assured as he poured the water onto the shirt thoroughly.

And, surprisingly, he was. Alex was tensed for a Marine's hard, calloused hands to descend upon his body, and cause him unbearable pain. But when Gibbs began to clean his wounds he did it slowly, precisely, and impressively soft. Alex looked up and into Gibbs' face. The man was completely focused on what he was doing, his face set in determinedly.

Sure it hurt like hell, but that fact that Gibbs was doing his absolute best to make sure that didn't happen was enough to dull some of it. But when the man got a a particularly deep cut Alex couldn't help but tense and groan, causing Gibbs to wince.

"Sorry." He said.

"Thought that was a sign of weakness?" He asked.

Gibbs shook his head but continued his ministrations, "Not between friends." Then he smiled lightly, "Or family." He added.

Alex became silent at that. He looked up and into Gibbs' eyes.

"When I found out that Yassen Gregorovich was the man that killed Ian Rider, I made a promise to kill him. Not long after that I met him in Amsterdam. I held a gun to his head, and I was going to kill him. He was the man that ruined my life. But I was ambushed from behind and I lost my chance."

Alex paused a moment before continuing.

"Then, when I went to find SCORPIA, they told me that MI6 killed my father. That's what put me over the edge, and I joined them. I figured if John Rider was an assassin, then that would be my fate too. I was showed a video of my father being shot on a bridge. Mrs. Jones was the one that ordered them to shoot him. So, SCORPIA wanted me to kill Mrs. Jones. I went to her flat, with a gun, and I was going to kill her for killing my dad. This time I really did get a shot off. But I moved the gun right before I shot and I missed her."

"You said your parents were killed in a plane explosion." Gibbs stated.

Alex nodded and hung his head slightly.

"Yeah, SCORPIA tricked me. They showed me a video that was a hoax. My father knew he was going to be shot. Well, fake shot, anyway. The video I saw was my father tricking SCORPIA so that he could get out of his double agent status. So he could retire. Jones never shot my dad. I nearly killed a woman for the wrong reason. The point is that, Gibbs, I know what it feels like to want to kill for revenge. And I don't blame you."

Alex chuckled a bit, "look's like Yokov failed there."

"You're the only person who knows about this. No one knows, not even my father."

Alex looked up in surprise.

"You didn't tell the team?" He asked.

Gibbs shook his head.

"Rule number 4- the best was to keep a secret? Keep it to yourself. Second best? Tell one other person- if you must. There is no third best." He recited.

The teen nodded at the logic.

"Not bad, I'll keep that in mind And wouldn't tell anyone, Gibbs. It's not mine to tell."

Gibbs nodded in thanks and ruffled the teen's hair.

"You need rest," he said.

The marine grabbed his jacket that had been discarded earlier. He draped it over the boy as gently as possible. The teen was shivering more since he now had no shirt.

He sat down beside Alex and patted his leg.

"Lie down. You're not going to get any sleep upright like that."

Alex blushed.

"No, I'll be fine." He stated.

Gibbs raised his eyebrows.

"That wasn't a suggestion. Now lie down." He replied sternly.

They stared at each other for a moment and at first Gibbs thought Alex was going to defy his order but then the teen shook his head slightly and stiffly moved his body into a supine position. He awkwardly laid his head on Gibbs' thigh, pulling the jacket over himself gently.

The older man rolled his eyes at the teen's embarrassed actions.

Alex was silent and still for awhile and for a moment Gibbs thought he had fallen asleep.

But then the boy shifted.

"I'm going to miss Jack's funeral." He said quietly.

At first Gibbs hesitated but shook it off as he raised a hand and brought it up to Alex's head. He ran a hand through the blonde hair. Then he stopped short as he felt the radiating heat on the boy's forehead and the sweat in his hair despite the boy's shivering.

Alex was getting a fever.

Gibbs tucked the jacket more closely around the boy.

"I'm sure she'd understand, Alex." He said.

"Well, yeah, but she's always the one that has to 'understand'. You know, she spent her entire birthday in the hospital with me because I was shot?"

Yet again, Gibbs admired Jack and her devotion to the teen. This child had no relation to the American and yet she had stood by him no matter what.

"Still blaming yourself, I see." He acknowledged.

Alex huffed.

"Wouldn't you?" He asked.

"No, I wouldn't," Gibbs offered.

"Somehow I don't believe that," Alex retorted.

Gibbs laughed lightly at the boys guts. He could also feel Alex's body lose some of the tension in his body but he wisely kept quiet about it.

"Okay, but still, you can't let that guilt consume you. Jack wouldn't have wanted that. Don't let her decision to stay and look after you have been for nothing. Make something of yourself, make her proud."

Alex let these words sink in before nodding in agreement.

"If we ever get out of here, that is," Alex said with a sigh.

Another firm tap appeared on his head.

"Ow! Hey I'm injured." Alex complained.

"What did I tell you? I'm getting you out of here," Gibbs replied.

"Us." Alex said, angling his head to look into Gibbs' eyes.

Gibbs gave him a questioning look.

"Us, Gibbs. _We're_ getting out of here. I'm not leaving without you." The teen said firmly.

The Marine nodded in agreement.

"No more talking. You need sleep while you can get it. We'll have plenty of time to talk when _we_ get out of here."

Alex, finally letting his exhaustion engulf him, let his eyes slide shut as he drifted off into a light sleep. His sleep was deepened when Gibbs put a comforting hand on the top of his head and rubbed his hair.

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While Abby was working with the tests, and Ziva and McGee were keeping an eye out for updates on their BOLO's and the Amber alert**(1)** that was put out for Alex, Tony entered the hospital and made his way to Jackson Gibbs' hospital room.

He knew what he was doing, his team could handle it for the moment, Jackson Gibbs needed to be checked on.

Tony knocked softly on the door and was greeted with a gruff, "Come in!"

The Senior Field Agent smirked at how 'Gibbs' it sounded. He pushed the door open and walked in.

"It's about time! Have you found my boy? What about Alex?" Jackson demanded.

The elderly man was sitting up in his bed with an IV in his hand and a bandaged laid heavily around his head. Bruises were littered all across his temple. The man looked awful. His face was tinged with a bit of pain and his face was pale.

"No, we haven't. But we will." Tony stated firmly

Jackson looked at Tony for a moment in disbelief.

"Well, what in God's name are you doing here? I don't need you here to babysit me; I need you to get out there and find those boys." The man said angrily.

Tony nearly laughed at the thought of 'Gibbs' and the word 'boy' being used in the same sentence. But he supposed that Jackson Gibbs would always refer to his son as 'his boy'.

"Look Jackson, Gibbs would absolutely kill me if I didn't make sure you were okay. The team's still searching for Gibbs and Alex. Just because I'm here doesn't mean we're not looking. And besides that, you, uh, kinda scared me." Tony admitted.

Jackson's face softened a bit.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Well, you...didn't look good when we got there."

Jackson chuckled.

"It's going to take more than a bump on the head to keep me down, son." He said.

Tony shook his head.

"You're definitely Gibbs' father."

"Here's a thought; why don't you go get one of those nice little nurses to get me some discharge papers?" The man said moving to get out of bed.

Tony quickly held up a hand.

"No can do. I spoke to your doctor, they said you need to stay here for observation for at least another two days. You're staying here."

Jackson sighed.

"That doctor doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm fine," He objected.

"That doctor has a degree in medicine. I think it's safe to say he knows a bit about what he's talking about." Tony said as he helped the man back into bed.

Suddenly he felt his phone go off. He pulled it out without looking and put it to his ear.

"DiNozzo."

But all was silent and the vibrating in his pocket was still going off.

Blushing with embarrassment he realized that it wasn't his phone that was going off, but Gibbs. Tony had picked it up when they canvased Gibbs' house in an attempt to gather information. Tony held onto the phone for his boss.

Fumbling for it he quickly answered it.

"DiNozzo." he answered.

"Agent DiNozzo? This is Ben Daniels. Where's Gibbs?"

Tony held up a finger to Jackson as he back out of the room and into the hallway.

"Agent Daniels, Gibbs and Alex were kidnapped by SCORPIA last night. We don't know where they are." Tony explained. He didn't know this man all too well, but if he was willing to quit his job over Alex then maybe the spy could help him.

He heard a loud string of cursing on the other end of the line.

"Call me Ben. Do you have any leads as to where they went?" Ben finally asked.

"We're thinking somewhere along a beach. Gibbs managed to kill quite a few men before they were taken. We found sand and salt water residue on their clothes. We're seeing if our forensic analyst can determine a closer location from the salinity in the water." Tony relayed.

Ben was silent before a loud sigh was heard.

"Alright, I'm going to see if I can get in touch with a few of my contacts to see if I can get anything. I know some people that are pretty close to SCORPIA and their operations. I may be able to get some information."

"That'd be great. If you need any help you let us know." Tony said firmly.

He heard Ben clear his throat.

"Actually, I need some advice. I've been cut off from nearly all of my accounts except for some private savings I've put up over the years. Apparently Blunt's not too happy with me at the moment. Anyway, I don't really know my way around this city. I need a real cheap hotel to stay at until I sort my self out. Any suggestions?"

Tony wince sympathetically. He knew what it was like to be completely cut off from money in a city that was unknown. He knew this wasn't the same as when his father cut him off but he still knew the feeling.

"Yeah I know someplace real cheap. My place. I'll text you the address." He said.

Ben must've been stunned because he was quiet for another moment.

"Agent DiNozzo-"

"Tony," DiNozzo corrected.

"Tony, I wasn't asking for a handout. I was just asking for a hotel name."

"This isn't a handout. You're helping us, I'm helping you. If you really don't want to stay I'll understand. But I'll still text you the address. If you show up, you show up. The door key is hidden under a loose tile near my door. The couch is all yours." Tony said simply. He may trust the man a bit, but he knew better than to let his guard down around a spy. If Daniels was close to him he could watch him. Rule number three- never believe what you're told. Always double check.

Ben considered this on the other side of the line before replying.

"Which floor tile?" He asked.

Tony chuckled lightly.

"You're the spy, you figure it out." He said before hanging up.

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When Tony entered the bullpen after seeing Gibbs' father he was surprised to see that Vance was sitting in at his desk. He shifted the beverage that was in his hand slightly.

"Is there something I can help you with, Director?" He asked suspiciously.

Vance looked up from the phone that was in his hands.

"I've contacted Homeland Security. They're officially looking into Alan Blunt's recent activity over the last few weeks." He replied.

Tony looked at the man with a confused expression.

"How'd you manage that so fast?" He asked.

Vance chuckled.

"Let's just say one of the big guy's up there owe me a favor or two." He said cryptically.

Tony nodded at the man.

"Yeah, well, thanks. Gibbs would kill me if I let Blunt slip out from our fingers just because SCORPIA has him."

Vance nodded in agreement.

"Any news on them yet?" Vance asked as he stood to leave.

Tony shook the Caf-Pow! That was in his hands.

"That's what we're about to find out."

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Alex was jerked out of his sleep. He heard footsteps and loud banging as Yokov and his men entered the room

He felt Gibbs stand up, moving his leg out from underneath his head.

Alex tried to sit up but the lacerations on his body protested at the movement and he was forced only to shakily sit up on one elbow. Alex's head was spinning and his head was pounding.

"I can see you're doing a stand up job taking care of Alex, Gibbs." Yokov said as he stepped in.

"I'd be doing a lot better if he had medical attention," Gibbs replied icily.

"Sadly that's not available. Now step aside, I need to speak with Alex again."

Gibbs stood his ground in front of the boy.

"You're not taking him again." He said.

Seeing that the man wasn't going to go down without a fight, Yokov motioned his men to advance on the man.

The first man that approached Gibbs raised the butt of his gun to his Gibbs with it.

But Gibbs grabbed the gun as it came toward him, then he yanked the gun and the man stumbled closer to Gibbs. Then he promptly punched the man in the stomach. Then he was ambushed from behind and they both fell to the ground.

Gibbs managed to get the upper hand though, he landed on top of the man and he began to violently punch him in the face until he was unconscious.

Then he stood up breathlessly and looked back over to Yokov who was leaning against the door frame with a smirk on his face.

But the man wasn't looking at Gibbs, he was looking past him and to Alex who was painfully pushing himself up and onto his feet. He was having to lean against the wall for support but his eyes were defiant.

"Leave him alone." He ordered.

Gibbs went over to the boy and put a hand out to steady him.

"Nobody would harm him if he would just let you come with us. The more he protects you the more he's going to get hurt. And that's your fault." Yokov said.

"This isn't his fault, you bastard." Gibbs said angrily.

"No, I'll come with you just leave him alone. He doesn't have anything to do with this." Alex said taking a step toward the assassin only to be stopped by Gibbs.

"Are you out of your mind? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He asked.

"No, I'm trying to _stop_ you from being killed." Alex retorted trying to get around the man.

Yokov sighed.

"Enough of the heroism. Rider get over here, Gibbs step aside. I only want the boy for about five minutes...that's all I'll need." He ordered with a smirk.

Yokov grabbed Alex and Gibbs moved to stop him.

One of the guards acted swiftly.

He pulled his gun out and, this time, successfully knock him to the ground. While Gibbs was distracted by the guards Alex was dragged from the room.

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Alex was tied down into the chair again and he steeled himself for the pain that about to be brought upon him.

"Gibbs has certainly become fond of you. You don't know many people that would go out of their way like he has to keep you safe." Yokov said as he entered Alex's line of sight with a small container in his hands.

"What I have for you today, Alex, is something that I think is...appropriate."

Yokov held up the container for Alex to see. Alex's breathing increased. The container was had scorpion in it.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Julia Rothman had a thing about scorpions. Sometimes when she had someone she needed to dispose of she would give them a 'gift' and the present would be filled with hundreds of scorpions. They would sting them to death." Yokov explained as he began to shake the jar to angry the scorpion.

"No, wait-" Alex began.

But it was too late. Yokov opened the jar and turned it up so that the scorpion landed on the Alex's forearm.

The teen sat as still as possible, barely breathing. The scorpion hadn't stung him yet but it's tail was up and ready for striking.

Yokov wasn't one for patience so he waved his hand in front of the scorpion in an attempt to make him strike...and he did.

Alex gasped and groaned as the scorpion's venom entered his body.

The pain was nearly unbearable. It hurt so bad that all Alex could focus on was the pain. He didn't notice when Yokov swatted the scorpion off him and then stepped on it.

Nor did he notice when he was untied and dragged to his feet. Then, he was taken back to Gibbs.

**A/N- lol, so how'd you guys like the SCORPIA thing? I was a little on the fence about it but it seemed like something Yokov would do.**

** (1)- I don't know what they call it when they put out alerts on missing children on the ****Television and what not in England. But in America they're called Amber Alerts.**

** And the BOLO's mean Be On Look Out for anyone that didn't know.**

** And Homeland Security would take care of an American being killed on American soil, right? Or would that still fall under that CIA's jurisdiction? I don't know I couldn't figure it out.**

** Again, if the characters are OOC I'm truly sorry...feel free to point it out so I can try to fix it next chapter if I agree with you.**

** You guy's are amazing! Reviews are love...and fuel to make me update quick;D**

** NCIS preview for this weeks episode- Tony's dad's coming back(gotta love Robert Wagner, right?) I'm so excited. I love episode's centered around our Very Special Agent.**


	23. Chapter 23

Alex groaned loudly as he pushed himself up to rest his back against the wall. He forced his eyes open and gazed at Gibbs' prone form. He tried to force his body over the the unconscious man, but the pain radiating through his body was unfathomable.

He couldn't remember how long it was before Gibbs began to wake up, and by then Alex was nearly out of his mind with pain. His body felt like it was on fire, his breathing was out of control and he was pale and sweating.

He could hardly acknowledge Gibbs as the man hurried over to him and began questioning him.

"Alex? Come on, talk to me, what happened?" Gibbs asked, trying to get a look at the arm the teen kept to his body protectively.

The marine had to bite his lip as his head pounded loudly in his skull. He needed to get Alex taken care of before he worried about his own headache.

He could see Alex doing his best to form words.

"Scorpion," Alex finally whispered. He was so low that Gibbs had to struggle to hear him.

"He made a scorpion sting you? How original," Gibbs said sarcastically as he pried Alex's arm away from his body to get a look at it.

Alex didn't reply as he tried to concentrate on breathing.

Gibbs wasn't a stranger to scorpion stings. He had seen soldiers with quite a few of them in Desert Storm. And during his 'retirement' in Mexico Mike Franks had been stung two different times by scorpions. But all of those times aid was available at some point, now was going to be a different story.

He let Alex have his hurt arm back but then picked up the teen's uninjured on e causing Alex to sigh frustratedly. Gibbs felt for a pulse and was surprised at how rapid it was already beating, making him wonder how long he was really knocked out, leaving Alex alone with his pain.

Gibbs looked up to Alex's face and into his eyes. The boy wasn't focusing on anything, his eyes were roaming freely behind heavy lids.

Dread was filling into his gut like scolding coffee. Alex was in trouble. Some scorpion stings could mild but this one was shaping up to be a pretty bad one. He could feel Alex beginning to relax some which told Gibbs that the pain in his arm was receding, whether that was a good or not Gibbs couldn't tell.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked carefully.

Alex brought his unfocused eyes in the direction of Gibbs' voice.

"Fantastic," Alex slurred.

Gibbs couldn't hide his chuckle at the boy's sarcasm. But at the same time he checked off another symptom of scorpion stings off the list. Slurred speech.

"Yeah, stupid question, I know. I mean, is there anything I can help you with?" He asked. He felt helpless sitting here as the teen beside him was in pain. He didn't know what to do.

Alex shook his head.

Gibbs nodded and sat back beside the teen. He knew they weren't out of the water yet. It would take four hours for the venom to really kick in.

But the Marine refused to wait around for Alex's health to keep deteriorating.

He just needed someone to open that door...

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"I don't care how late it is! Do _not_ hang up on me, Sergeant! I-...damn it!" Tony said as he was hung up on by the Maryland Police Department.

Abby's salinity findings did nothing but give them information that the ocean water came from somewhere near Maryland. Not much to go on. And the Police over in Maryland was being less than helpful.

"This is ridiculous. They couldn't just disappear. How can we not have any leads?" Tony asked as he looked frustratedly out the large window nearest his desk and into the clear night sky.

Ziva shrugged from her desk that was opposite Tony's. She had he legs up on her desk as she stared at phone on her desk, willing it to ring with word from a BOLO. She knew as well as anyone that every minute that ticked by meant that the assassins could be just one step farther away with Gibbs and Alex.

"These are not civilian murderers, Tony. They're assassins. They're not just going to leave traces." Ziva said.

Tony turned to shrug at the woman.

"Yes, Ziva, I know how assassins work. I've worked with you for quite a while now." He replied icily.

Ziva glared menacingly back at the man but let it go. She knew he was just venting.

"Where's Probie?" Tony asked turning to look at his friend's empty desk.

"He's down with Abby trying to find something more to go on than water salinity." Ziva answered.

Tony nodded and looked longingly over to Gibbs' desk. He hated it when Gibbs was MIA. And even though Alex had only been with them for a short time, he already felt a bit loss without the blonde around. A sure sign that the boy was meant to be in their little makeshift family.

He was surprised when Ziva stood up with her cell phone in hand.

"I'm going to make some calls to Tel Aviv. Maybe someone from Mossad has been in contact with SCORPIA and can get some intel." She said.

Tony nodded.

"Do your thing, my Little Ninja." He replied and then smiled as he saw Ziva's mouth form into her own small smile at the mention her nickname.

He watched as Ziva disappeared into the elevator for some privacy.

"Do you give pet names to all of your co-workers?" A voice came up from behind him.

Startled, Tony turned around and came to the face of Ben Daniels.

"Most of them," Tony said carefully, "How did you get in here?"

Ben chuckled.

"Spy, remember? Well, that, and I still have my credentials from MI6. Told security Vance needed to see me." He shrugged.

Tony laughed at the spy's guts.

"Well, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"I obviously have nothing else to do at the moment. So, I figured I should be here to help you guys find your boss and Alex." Ben replied coming to stand in front of Tony's desk.

Tony thought for a moment.

"I don't see why not." Tony said shaking Ben's hand.

"Welcome aboard, Daniels."

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Gibbs opportunity arrived nearly two hours later.

A guard entered the room with his gun in hand and a plate with a couple pieces of bread and another bottle of water.

Gibbs seized the opportunity and bull rushed the man. He grabbed the hand with the gun in it and slammed it against the wall. The gun clattered to the ground. The guard was quick though, he brought a fist back and connected it with Gibbs' right side. Then the man began to try to yell. The marine silenced the man by a quick punch to the throat. He threw another punch to the man's temple and the man slumped to the ground unconscious.

Not wasting any time he began searching the man's pockets before he found what he was looking for. A cell phone. The trick here was not going to be escaping. That would be impossible with Alex injured the way he was. He would undoubtedly get himself or Alex killed. No, he needed his team to find him.

He flipped the phone open and dialed his Senior Field Agent. Gibbs was about to give a growl of frustration when he suddenly heard, "DiNozzo," come onto the line.

"Tony, get McGee to trace this call. Now." Gibbs demanded quickly, refusing to waste any time.

_"Boss? Where are you?"_ DiNozzo asked.

"A beach house in Maryland. I don't have an address. Get McGee to trace his _now_. I don't know how much time I have."

_"Probie's working on it now, Boss. Just sit tight. Give me a sit rep."_

Gibbs tried to reply but a yell cut him off. From the hallway.

"Kaiel, what the hell's taking so long in there?" Yokov's voice asked.

"Damn it, Tony listen when you get here bring an ambulance. Alex was stung by a scorpion. Bad. He's not doing too good. I'm counting on you, DiNozzo." Gibbs replied down the phone.

_"No, Boss, wait!-"_

But it was too late, Gibbs could hear footsteps coming to the door. He snapped the phone shut and put it back into the unconscious man's pocket.

Gibbs then slumped down to the floor and made his breathing more labored, like he had just come in from a fight.

Yokov barreled into the room.

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"Damn it! McGee, _tell me_ you got a location on that call!" Tony yelled, making all of Abby's lab echo.

Tony and Ben had walked down to see what progress Abby and McGee were having.

Ziva was still talking to her contacts so they were forced to take the stairs. So, they had just entered the lab when Tony got the call.

McGee sighed and shook his head.

"I didn't get an exact location. But I got close. They're somewhere within this area." He replied pointing to the red area highlighted on the computer screen he was staring at.

"That's _all _you got McGee?" Tony asked.

"Tony, like I've told you guy's before I'm _not_ a miracle worker here. You're lucky we got that." McGee retorted.

"He's right, Tony. Now we have a place to start. And as long as Gibbs wasn't caught making that phone call then they're still somewhere in this region." Daniels put in.

Tony sighed, "I know. You're right. And Gibbs confirmed that they're in a beach house. We can narrow the search down even more with that. Good job, McGeek. Let's get agents on that scene now." Tony said clapping McGee on the back apologetically.

McGee nodded in acceptance and they went to walk out of the room but then Tony was stopped by Abby's hand on his shoulder.

"Are they okay, Tony?" She asked urgently.

Tony hung his head and sighed.

"Gibbs sounded okay. But he, uh, said Alex wasn't doing too good. Apparently he's been stung by a scorpion. He said it was bad. We have to get them help. Now." Tony said before kissing Abby's concerned face.

As Tony left and began making orders for them to begin searching McGee stopped at the doorway.

"They're going to be okay, Abby. Gibbs isn't going to let anything happen to Alex." McGee comforted before disappearing to catch up with Tony and Ben.

Abby sighed heavily and hoped that her Elflord was right.

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"What he hell are you doing?" Yokov asked going over to his man and grabbing the gun that had fell to the ground earlier so that Gibbs couldn't grab it.

"He went after Alex. I'm not going to let you take him again. He's hurt enough." Gibbs lied wrapping a hand around his ribs, pretending to be in a tremendous amount of pain from them.

"He was just bringing you food, Agent Gibbs. No one wants to hurt Alex at the moment. Although, Kaiel is a bit headstrong." Yokov said, pulling the man up and pushing his limp body into the hall carelessly.

Gibbs was hoping that the man would just leave but then Yokov walked back into the room.

Alex's health was going faster than intended and Yokov seemed to realize this when he came in to gloat.

The assassin peered at the boy.

"Aw, is little Rider not feeling very well?" He sneered.

Gibbs stood up and glared at the man, nearly forgetting to pretend to be hurt.

"You're going to pay for this," He promised.

Yokov smiled and walked around but before Gibbs could do something Yokov casually pulled out his gun and turned pointed it to Alex.

"Probably. But not anytime soon," Yokov replied. "I'm just here to see how our little boy is doing."

Gibbs looked over to Alex who was fading in and out of consciousness. His face was still pale and sweating. The effects of the scorpion was hitting Alex harder and quicker than Gibbs was anticipating.

"You're going to kill him if he doesn't get some sort of help." Gibbs warned.

Yokov smiled.

"My orders are to make Alex Rider's last breathes the most unbearable ones he's ever taken. If he accidentally dies during one of my tortures it's no big deal. As long has he's in pain as he dies my bosses couldn't care less here, Agent Gibbs." He replied.

Yokov took one last look at Alex's still form before backing out of the room and locking the door.

Just as the sounds of Yokov's footsteps could no longer be heard, Alex started to groan loudly.

Gibbs spun around and went over to the boy.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Stomach hurts," Alex ground out, suddenly very wide awake.

"Like pain hurt or 'I'm going to barf hurt'?" Gibbs asked lightly.

"Pain," The teen answered as he wrapped his uninjured arm around his middle.

_"Damn, damn, damn,"_ Gibbs chanted in his head.

He grabbed his jacket that was wound around the teen's shoulders and spread it on the floor.

"Here, lay down. It might get help with the pain." Gibbs said sitting down and helped the teen stretch out and he laid Alex's head on his thigh again.

He took the Alex's shirt and wet it again. While Alex was laying down he took the opportunity to wipe Alex's cuts on his torso down again. Then, he took wiped Alex's face off.

However, as soon as Gibbs was done, Alex promptly turned onto his side and curled up. Gibbs wrapped the the parts of the jacket that Alex wasn't laying on around the teen. Luckily the jacket was a large Carhardtt and it practically swallowed the teen up.

The boy's breath was hitched and coming out in shallow bursts. Gibbs could also hear soft grunts as Alex did his best to hold back cries of pain.

Gibbs put his hand on Alex's back and began rubbing it in soothing circles and then he put his free hand in Alex's hair.

"Let it out, Alex. It's okay," Gibbs offered.

He felt Alex shake his head lightly.

Gibbs sighed.

"Hang in there, then. I'm working on getting us some help." He urged.

"Everything's blurry." Alex slurred breathlessly.

Gibbs nearly winced at the tone of the boy. He sounded terribly pained and tired and if the marine heard correctly, a little scared.

"Yeah, that's one of the milder side effects. Don't worry too much about it, once the team gets here, and we get you to a hospital, everything will right itself." He assured.

"I can't help us get out...You could get hurt."

Gibbs had to force the anger out of his voice when he replied to the boy.

"Alex, I'm going to get us out of here. Because that's my job. You let me worry about it. I got one thing I need you to do for me, and that's to hold on for as long as you can, understand?"

Tony's earlier words echoed through Alex's head.

_ "Y__ou know what the only thing that kept me going was? Gibbs. He sat with me through all the bad nights and ordered me not to die, ordering me to breath, ordering me beat a eighty-five percent chance of dying. And I did it. Not because I was scared of Gibbs, but because I didn't want to let him down."_

Alex felt Gibbs' calloused hands rubbing his back and scalp. They were warm and protecting. He decided to follow the team's footsteps. He couldn't let Gibbs down, not after all he had done for him. Alex nodded his promise. Then, his stomach cramps began to get worse and he felt as though he couldn't get enough air into his lung and soon he felt himself begin to slide out of consciousness again.

**A/N- Well here it is! Let me know what you think!**


	24. Chapter 24

"Ducky, are you keeping up with us okay?" Tony asked into his cell as he sped down the highway.

_"My dear boy, you, Gibbs, and Ziva are not the only people who can drive crazily. Don't you worry, we're right behind you." _

"Thanks, Ducky." Tony said before snapping his phone shut.

Ducky was following behind him in the NCIS van with Palmer. The doctor had loaded the van down with everything thing he could possibly use to help Alex and his scorpion sting. They just needed enough to keep Alex stabilized until they could get him to a hospital. They couldn't risk bringing in paramedics into an unsecure scene and they wouldn't have time to wait on an ambulance.

"Okay, we have a list of all the beach house owners within the area of the region of where Gibbs called. And I've been able to narrow it down a bit by making calls to the police station." McGee said as he braced himself as Tony took a particularly sharp turn.

"How many do we have to check out then?" Ben asked from his seat in the back with Ziva.

"Close to fifteen. The general fix we got was pretty barren. There wasn't many houses around _to_ check. And if we get lost Abby has us on GPS to right us." McGee replied.

Ben nodded as, once again, everyone in the car braced themselves.

"Do, uh, you guys always drive like this?" Ben asked uncertainly.

The three NCIS agents all shared a look before shrugging.

"Yeah," they all answered in unison.

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Gibbs sat quietly in the cell while he absentmindedly ran his hand through Alex's hair while the boy was out. Even in the boy's sleep Alex's breathing was coming in ragged gasps. Gibbs repeatedly checked Alex's pulse. It was rapidly fluttering underneath his fingers. All of the cuts on Alex's body were red and angry looking. Gibbs took the time that Alex was out cold to once again run the wet T-shirt over Alex's cuts, then he laid the wet cloth over the swollen sting.

Gibbs thought back to the cell phone he had taken. He had gotten a look at the date and was almost surprised to see that he and Alex had been missing for almost a day and a half. That was something he had not been expecting. He figured maybe a day, but nearly two was unexpected. He was counting on his team not to make it a day more. He knew Alex wouldn't make it a day more without some sort of medical help.

Gibbs was nearly shocked out of his skin as Alex's eyes suddenly shot open and he began struggling.

"What's wrong?" Gibbs demanded, not knowing whether to let Alex move or not.

"G'nna be sick," Alex slurred as he crawled a few paces away from Gibbs and braced himself on his hands and knees as his stomach heaved violently. The boy groaned in between each heave as each time it sent waves of pain through his body.

Gibbs, refusing to stand by and watch, came over and wrapped his arm gently around Alex, mindful of his cuts so the teen didn't lose his balance and fall into his own puke.

"Easy," he murmured into the boy's ear, feeling the tremors coursing through Alex's body.

Soon, the heaving stopped and Alex slumped limply into Gibbs' arms.

"Shit," Gibbs mumbled as he unexpectedly took all of Alex's weight.

The teen's breathing had gotten shorter and panicky.

"I can't breathe," Alex gasped.

_"Damn, this is going downhill way too fast."_ Gibbs thought darkly.

"Yes, you can. Just breathe deeply and slow. In through your nose out through your mouth." Gibbs advised.

But it was falling on deaf ears, he wasn't getting through to the boy.

Desperately he reverted back to Tony's plague days. He sat Alex up like they had Tony to help him breathe better. As Alex's shivering got worse he pulled the teen close to him slinging an arm around his shuddering shoulders. He discarded the teen's embarrassment, he didn't have time.

Gibbs put his hand on the back of Alex's head and pulled it to his chest, holding it there.

"Alex, I want to you to focus on my breathing. Match your breathes with mine," Gibbs said, deliberately slowing his breathing so Alex could better match it.

He felt the blonde shake his head jerkily as he tried to pull away but Gibbs' firm hand held it there.

Gibbs watched as Alex's tried to match his breathing. Soon, he was getting the hang of it but his breathing was still jerky and shallow no matter how hard he tried to even it. It seemed as though Alex was dependent on Gibbs' breathing for his own.

Soon he felt Alex's battered body finally slump into his own as once again the boy passed out.

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Gibbs hadn't moved from his spot beside Alex, the boy's head still laying against him. The marine was mildly panicking at how shallow and uneven Alex's breathing was. It seemed like they just kept coming shorter and shorter. He finally made a move to snag his jacket and the bottle of water.

He made sure Alex was covered before he uncapped the water and took a small drink of the precious liquid.

He made sure it was small but enough to get him a little hydrated. He couldn't help Alex if he was about to pass out himself from dehydration. But he left more than enough in case Alex was thirsty again.

Then a sharp noise echoed from the other side of the door and Gibbs could only look on in hope that his team was about to bound through the doors. His hope was lost, however, when Yokov sauntered into the room carelessly.

"Well, isn't this a sweet sight. A tough ex Marine cuddled up to his new adopted son. That's beautiful. A little cliche but I still like it." The cocky assassin taunted.

"What do you want? You're not taking Alex again." Gibbs defied, he could feel Alex waking up, glancing down he saw the teen's eyes flutter open and look around before he became tense as his eyes landed on the assassin in front of him.

This time Yokov just laughed.

"No, this time I'm afraid it's you I've come for. We've decided that taking you with us in our move to Malagosto would prove to be too risky." Yokov replied calmly.

"So you're just going to kill me?" Gibbs asked bluntly.

He felt Alex shake his head in protest. The marine gripped his shoulders tightly in reassurance. Gibbs could also hear the gasping breathing that was alarmingly short.

"Well, kind of, I mean what would SCORPIA be without giving you a little something to remember us by as you take your last breathes? We have to make sure that Alex knows just what he's done with getting you involved in this. It'll give him something to think about in Malagosto." Yokov responded.

"Get up." He ordered the marine as he pointed his gun at the man.

"I'm not leaving, Alex." Gibbs replied.

Yokov shrugged with a smile.

"That's fine with me, Agent Gibbs. I thought I was doing Alex some kind of favor by not making him watch you die but, you know, if you want to punish the child for getting you mixed up in his mess then I'm all for it."

Gibbs aimed his murderous glare at Yokov before gently easing Alex off of his shoulder.

"Gibbs...no...M'sorry." Alex mumbled, despair and pain clearly shown in his eyes. This was Jack all over again and just like last time there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Gibbs put his mouth to Alex's ear.

"Listen to me. The team's on their way here now. You _have_ to hold on, Alex. You better fight tooth and nail to hold on until they get here. I'll know if you haven't."

"But you..."

"You don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Gibbs lied. He didn't know what was going to happen to him or Alex when he stepped out of the room they were being held in.

"Hey! Come on, I don't have all day." Yokov said impatiently.

Gibbs helped Alex lay down on his side before he stepped back and turned to the SCORPIA assassin.

Yokov motioned with a nod, "Come on. Out."

Gibbs slowly made his way out of the room and waited as Yokov walked out and locked the room that was holding Alex. Keeping his glance discreet he watched where Yokov put the key. Zippered breast pocket in his jacket.

They didn't go far just three doorways up from Alex's room.

Yokov opened the door and Gibbs filed in followed by Yokov himself.

The room was almost just as bare as the previous one except that there was a small bed that looked like if you sat on it that it would fall through. Not that Gibbs was planning on being in this room long enough to use the bed.

He slowly turned to face the assassin and stared at him expectantly.

"You made a mistake helping that boy, Gibbs." Yokov started.

"I don't regret helping Alex. I regret not hunting you down myself and killing you before you got your hands on Alex in the first place."

Yokov laughed again.

"That maybe. But you're too late. Now I have six bullets here, do you think I can get all of them into your body before you bleed out?" He asked before taking aim at Gibbs' left leg.

Gibbs shrugged.

"Take your best shot."

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Alex was back on his hands and knees dry heaving, making breathing all the more difficult. By the time he was done he was gasping loudly. Shivers ran down his spine from the cold.

The teen fell over onto his side with a thump. He wanted to help Gibbs but he knew he was more than stuck in this room and even if he could manage to get out he wouldn't do Gibbs much help anyways.

Alex was only barely conscious when he heard the sound of a gunshot ringing out before his stomach dropped to the floor.

_Gibbs._

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Tony had made Ducky and Palmer park a bit away from the houses they were checking out so that they were out of harms way until they had the scenes secure. Then they would call them in.

But so far they hadn't had any luck.

Tony sighed as they gathered around the Charger once again.

"Okay, McGee. Where's the next house? You weren't kidding when you said that these houses were spaced far out." He said.

"Actually this one's really close, you can see it right..." McGee's reply was cut off by the sounds of a very muffled gunshot echoed from the house McGee was gesturing to.

Tony slapped the hood of the car.

"Let's get 'em."

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Gibbs lunged at Yokov just as the bullet exited the chamber. It was so close that he felt the bullet graze the calf of his left leg. But that didn't stop him. It was just him and Yokov now.

He knew none of the other SCORPIA agents would barrel down to save Yokov. They were expecting screams and gunshots. Little did they know that it would be their Boss doing the screaming.

Gibbs latched onto Yokov's hand with the gun and slammed it against the wall until the assassin's hand released the weapon. It clattered to the floor and out of their reach. Then the Marine laid a generous punch to the man's stomach.

Yokov shoved Gibbs back and they stared each other down.

"You just made a big mistake, Agent Gibbs."

Ignoring the pain in his leg he replied, "You were going to kill me anyways. Might as well go down swinging."

Then he attacked.

Both he and Yokov tumbled to the floor of the dirty room and there they began to fight for the upper hand. Yokov tried to get out a yell for his partners but the call for help was quickly cut off by Gibbs' fist ramming back into the man's stomach.

Gibbs was suddenly pushed back roughly by Yokov who had managed to somehow get the upperhand. Yokov advanced on the man and landed a kick to the Marine's already bleeding leg. The injured man gave a groan of pain.

Then Yokov was gone and Gibbs could see him trying to find his gun. He couldn't let that happen. So, despite the pain in his leg he forced himself up, his leg nearly gave out from weight.

Then, before he could take step, there was loud bang coming from above them.

Music to Gibbs' ears. He could hear the muffled voices of his second in command followed by several loud gunshots.

Yokov had a look of confusion on his face.

"My team is here, Yokov. This is over." Gibbs said hoarsely, out of breathe from the scuffle.

The assassin seemed to be talking to himself.

"I failed...SCORPIA will never forgive." Was all Gibbs managed to catch.

Then Yokov looked wildly at the door and Gibbs knew what he was thinking.

If he could kill Alex at least his job will have been completed.

He saw Yokov make for the door but Gibbs grabbed him by the back and slung him into the wall.

Then he went over and grabbed the gun that had fallen discarded to the floor.

Yokov stumbled and stood in the middle of the doorway as he saw that his gun was being aimed at him.

Yokov looked at the gun and then to the marine and raised his hands in surrender.

"So, what now? You're going to kill me?" Yokov asked.

Gibbs chuckled darkly.

"I've got five bullets here. Do you think I can get them all into your body before you bleed out?" He asked, mimicking the assassin.

Gibbs heard footsteps coming their way followed by a "Boss?" The voice was from his Second in Command.

He saw Tony at the side of the doorway.

Tony saw Gibbs with the gun on Yokov and he made the assumption that he was going to arrest the assassin.

Eying his boss he pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

"Put your hands behind your back."

But Gibbs was suddenly saw Alex's eyes in the back of his mind. He saw the fear in the teen's eyes even though he would deny it otherwise.

SCORPIA had ruined this kid's life and severely endangered it.

He fired twice. Each bullet landed in Yokov's chest.

DiNozzo was momentarily stunned.

"Boss?" He asked.

"Get an ambulance in here now." Gibbs said, ignoring his senior agent. He limped over to the dead assassin and fished around in his breast pocket for the key to the cell.

"We got Ducky on standby." Tony replied.

He talked into his cuff mic.

"Ziva, get Ducky and Palmer down here the area is...secured." Tony said looking down to Yokov's body.

Then he turned and followed Gibbs who was already putting the key into the lock of Alex's room.

Gibbs opened the door and entered the room. Tony followed soon after but he stopped short as he saw Alex.

Now he knew why Gibbs shot the man.

Alex was a gasping heap on the floor beside a pool of his own vomit. The teen's torso was covered in cuts and he looked to be in a tremendous amount of pain.

Gibbs went immediately over to Alex and put a hand under his neck and under the back of his knees and picked him up bridal style.

"Ducky's needs to look at him _now." _Gibbs demanded impatiently, obviously not waiting for the ME to make his way down the stairs.

DiNozzo moved aside as Gibbs went by him with the boy who looked like he had lost the battle to stay awake again. Gibbs made sure Alex still had a pulse and was still breathing. The boy's breath was a bit slow and uneven, nearly nonexistent.

Looking down as he saw Gibbs' slight limp, Tony had to marvel at his boss. He could see the bleeding leg that had been grazed by the bullet and yet here the marine was, carrying an, at least, 140 pound kid up a flight of stairs. _Semper Fi._ For that, Tony knew better than to offer to take the boy off of his hands.

As they approached the last step he saw Gibbs falter, he put out his own steadying hand.

"Easy, Boss." Tony mumbled.

Two SCORPIA agents were in handcuffs on the floor, being watched carefully by Ziva and the rest of them were lying on the floor beside a pool of their own blood.

Tony saw Gibbs begin to walk towards a nearby couch, so Tony shot forward to help lie the boy down.

They could hear Ducky and Palmer approaching them with all of the equipment they could carry.

"Jethro, it's good to see you well. Alex...Well we'll have you fixed up in no time. Scorpion bites are nothing to joke about." Ducky said as he started accessing Alex's condition with a trained eye before turning to talk to his assistant quickly.

"Mr. Palmer, he's beginning to go into respiratory arrest. Will you..."

But Gibbs heard no more, his head gave him a jolt of dizziness that made him fall flat on his butt and then he heard muffled shouting from Ducky to Palmer.

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Tony sighed, he hadn't been this anxious since he had to give Gibbs mouth to mouth on that pier.

The whole team, minus Ducky and Abby, was sitting in the waiting room waiting on some sort of news about Alex or Gibbs.

Ducky was trying to get some sort of an update from one of the nurses and Abby was still tied up at NCIS.

Tony glanced at his partners. McGee was sitting stiffly in his seat, clearly worried. It had been quite awhile since they saw Gibbs pass out.

Ziva was sitting a bit more relaxed but you could see the worried features on her face as she stared at her hands.

Palmer was a bit more comical with the way he kept fidgeting in his seat.

"You okay there, Palmer?" Tony finally asked, making the man jump.

"Huh? No...I'm...I'm fine." Jimmy assured them.

"Well get still there, would ya?" Tony replied with a smile.

"Yes, you look like you have crabs in your pants." Ziva said causing the three men around her to laugh.

"What?" She asked.

"It's 'ants in your pants', Zee-vah." Tony replied after a few more seconds of laughing.

"Well, what is so funny about the way I said it?" Ziva asked, clearly confused.

Tony looked to Palmer.

"Well, you're the medical expert. This one's up to you, Black Lung." He replied, just as he saw Ducky out of the corner of his eye.

He left them to sort out the confusion and went over to the ME.

"What's the prognosis, Duck?" Tony asked bluntly.

Ducky sighed.

"Jethro is going to be fine. He has a mild concussion and the way he was overexterting himself wasn't good for him. And the fact that he was bleeding profusely from a bullet graze wasn't helping matters. He's having to stay over night because he was very dehydrated."

Tony hung his head.

"I should've stopped him." He replied.

"Now, Anthony, we know Jethro's hard headed. Nothing you said would've stopped him. But let's not start placing blame. He's fine, he's not happy that he's having to stay the night in the hospital as a patient but he'll get over that." Ducky assured Tony firmly.

Tony nodded and sighed. Now it was time for the hard part.

"And Alex?"

"Ah, well, now that's a different story. Alex went into full respiratory failure when we arrived at the hospital. He's currently not breathing on his own. He's on a ventilator and there was a substantial amount of cuts on his torso that had become infected. It's not too bad but judging from the amount of grime on every other part of the teen I'm willing to bet that Jethro did his best to keep them clean. On top of that Alex isn't as dehydrated as Jethro. I'm willing to bet he had something to do with that too."

"But is he going to be okay? They got the antivenin in him, right?" Tony asked.

"As long as he's winged off the vent successfully then he should be fine baring any complications. They're doing tests to make sure that the poison didn't affect his heart like it did his lungs but it's just formality. His heart is in excellent condition from my observation." Ducky concluded.

Tony sighed in relief.

"Can we see them?"

"Alex is getting tests done at the moment but Jethro has been settled into a room."

"Is Gibbs awake?" He asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I think I heard his objecting tone as they were stitching up his leg. You can go ahead and look in on him first since you're his next of kin. I'll go ahead and inform the others on the situation." Ducky replied before giving him the room number.

Tony power walked down the hall and found Gibbs' room. He opened the door to find his Boss with his eyes closed, breathing deeply. Tony thought Gibbs was asleep so he started to back out of the room quietly.

"Where do you think you're going, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked without opening his eyes.

"Uh, no where, Boss. How do you feel?"

"Like crap. Now did Ducky tell you what room Alex was in?" Gibbs asked, finally opening his eyes to peer at his second in command.

Tony chuckled at the two men's relationship. Ducky had purposely kept what room Alex was in so that Gibbs couldn't slip out and wander the halls.

"No, actually he didn't. Either way, Alex is getting tests done so he's not even in his room." He announced.

"I want to see him. There's only so many rooms on the ICU floor and I will barge into every single one of them if I have to." Gibbs warned.

And Tony believed him.

"I'll figure it out, Boss. Until then, why don't you get some look beat." Tony replied wincing at his choice of words. Gibbs had a very colorful bruise on his left temple and he knew that he had a very big scuffle with Yokov before he arrived.

But Gibbs ignored him.

"I want people watching Alex's room. Yokov may be gone but that doesn't mean they can't send more agents to finish him off." Gibbs ordered.

But Tony was already nodding his head.

"I know, Boss. As soon as they settle him in, we're going to have two marines on the outside of the door and then an agent stationed in the room."

"That agent will be me, bone head." Gibbs said, pushing himself up into the sitting position.

Tony shook his head.

"No, Boss. Ziva, McGee and I will be in the room. You're hurt. You know as well as I do that if someone _does_ come back to get Alex that there won't be anything you can do about it." He said firmly, but on the inside he was like jelly. It had been quite awhile since he had defied Gibbs.

Gibbs stared a moment at his Senior Field Agent.

"That an order, DiNozzo?" He challenged.

"Call it what you want, Boss. But you're hurt and that means I'm acting lead agent. Whatever I say goes." Tony said with just a hint of an ego. But he knew what he was doing, he couldn't let Gibbs potentially hurt himself trying to protect Alex when there was perfectly good agents who could help.

Gibbs glared at the man for a moment before breaking out into a small smile.

He gestured with his hand.

"Come here for a minute, DiNozzo." He said.

"Why?" Tony asked as he cautiously made his way to the side of Gibbs' bed.

"Bend down." Gibbs instructed calmly.

Tony did as he was told but he realized what was going on just a moment too late as the sting of a hand slapped the back of his head.

**A/N- Wow, this took forever and I'm **_**still **_**not happy with this chapter. But nonetheless here we are. **

** I know there's more than a lot of loopholes in this chapter and I know Alex is kind of OOC but he **_**is**_** on the verge of dying so I think he's justified for a little OOC. But that's just my opinion.**

**And now for my unrelated notes:**

**First of all who all reading this is a Supernatural fan? Cause I've started a Supernatural/ Alex Rider crossover and I'm wanting to see if anyone would be interested in reading that? Drop me a line and let me know. I'm not sure how many Alex Rider and supernatural fans their actually are.**

**And geez the recent NCIS episodes? Amaaazing! Especially this weeks episode (Kill Screen) lol I don't wanna ruin the episode for anyone so I'll just say this: Never leave Gibbs alone with your computerXD.**

**And thanks to ChakramVampire for beta-ing for me. I'd be in trouble without her help!**

**Oookay, I'm done. I hope you liked the chapter! Review! More will be up soon and quicker hopefully.**

** Oh, and by the way I'm sooo happy we hit like 422 reviews last chapter! You guys are aaamazing. And I know that I have not been replying to your reviews like I usually do. That ends now:) if your review is long enough to comment on then you will get a reply. You guys definitely deserve it.**


	25. Chapter 25

Gibbs sighed impatiently as Tony wheeled him down the hall of the ICU ward. He hated wheelchairs but at the moment it was necessary since his leg was beginning to throb.

Soon they came up on a door with two stone faced marines standing in front.

Tony flashed his badge and the marines stepped aside and they entered.

Gibbs rolled himself up to the side of Alex's bed while Tony lingered behind. The teen's face was still swollen and bruised. Both of his arms were wrapped tightly in bandages, one from the cut the other from the nasty sting.

Alex's torso was also wrapped and Gibbs watched it as the machine to the side of the bed breathed for the boy.

"Ducky did say he was doing better, Boss." Tony assured.

Gibbs only nodded.

As he looked at Alex lying in front of him he couldn't help but think about his girls.

He knew killing Yokov wasn't going to save Alex just as killing Hernandez didn't bring back his wife and child. He knew that, hell, he lived with it every day. But he refused to make Alex go through life looking over his shoulder. He couldn't give that comfort to Shannon and Kelly but he could do it for Alex.

Gibbs also knew that his senior field agent deserved some sort of explanation.

"He deserved to die." He said, not taking his eyes off Alex's swollen face.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Boss." Tony replied, coming up and taking the empty seat beside Gibbs.

"I signed your report, DiNozzo. Your statement said Yokov attacked me and I shot him in self defense."

"Not a complete lie. He did attack you." DiNozzo pointed out.

Gibbs turned and leveled a glare at his second.

Tony caved after a moment and shrugged.

"Come on, Boss. I know what could happen to my career if I cover for you, but honestly? Can you look me in the eye and tell me that your haven't stuck your job out for one of your own before? Ziva with Ari?" Tony listed as a perfect example.

Gibbs stared at Tony, giving nothing away.

"She told you?" He asked softly. He hadn't told anyone that he covered for Ziva when she killed her half brother to save him.

Tony laughed.

"Did you really expect me to believe that you were fine with having an Isreali _spy_ join our team? Especially with the recent luck we had with Mossad at the time? I knew something hinky had to have happened. And Ziva and I are closer now. We talk. Even spies need to talk...especially when they're drunk at three a.m." Tony admitted with a smile.

"Rule twelve, DiNozzo."

"I've been meaning to discuss that rule with you, Boss. I feel it needs some...re-adjusting."

"Why? Are you and McGee planning on getting married?"

There was a moment of silence before...

"That's cold, Gibbs."

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It took three days for Alex to be weaned fully off the vent.

Gibbs had been discharged from the hospital the first day. Not that that mattered much, the marine still hadn't left the hospital. He and Tony were on protection detail in the Maryland hospital.

Everyone else on the team was back in DC holding down the fort. They weren't happy about it but someone had to do it.

Gibbs had talked to his father as soon as he was able to use a phone. He was relieved that Jackson was fine and was safely tucked in at Ziva's house with McGee and Ziva keeping a watchful eye on him. They had brought Jackson to the hospital to see the both of them.

Alex still hadn't woken up and the doctor said it was all up to the teen now.

Gibbs sat patiently in the chair beside the boy's bed. Tony was out getting coffee for the both of them. This would make Gibbs' fourth cup and it was just barely lunch time.

Gibbs shifted in his seat and winced as the stitches in his leg pulled at his skin. He had refused the crutches and wheelchair that was offered to him. The marine was relatively fine aside from the mild aching in his body, mostly from the fight he had but also from sitting on that hard floor for so long.

Gibbs was looking to the clock, wondering where Tony was with the coffee, when he heard the heart monitor pick up it's pace.

He looked over to Alex and the boy had a pained expression on his face as he began to struggle, pushing away at something.

Gibbs moved to sit on the side of the bed. Hesitating for only a moment Gibbs took Alex's hand in his and waited for the boy to wake.

Alex shifted and groaned at the pain it caused.

"Alex? Come on, wake up for a minute." Gibbs urged gently as he squeezed his hand.

He smiled as Alex weakly squeezed his hand back before opening his eyes.

Gibbs smiled grew wider as Alex physically relaxed when his eyes landed on Gibbs. At least something good came out of this; more of Alex's trust.

"Are you hurting?"

"Throat," Alex croaked at a whisper.

Then, Tony walked in with two coffee cups in his hands.

"DiNozzo, get a nurse and some water." Gibbs ordered, not moving from his spot.

"On it, Boss." Tony replied, setting the drinks down on the roll away tray. Throwing a smile Alex's way he withdrew from the room.

Seeing the confusion etched on Alex's face Gibbs began to explain.

"Your throat hurts because you were on a vent for awhile. You went into respiratory arrest. Ducky took care of things though. You're going to be fine. You just need some time to heal."

Gibbs frowned when Alex's confused expression didn't waver.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Alex tried to reply but his throat was just too dry to form words.

Gibbs nodded.

"Water's on it's way." He assured.

Alex nodded into the pillow, his blonde hair becoming even more ruffled.

It didn't take long for Tony to come bounding into the room with a nurse who had a cup of water with a straw in her hand and a bottle of spray in the other. Alex's doctor soon followed after them.

"Hello, Alex, It's good to see you awake. I have something for you to drink but first I have some spray medication for your throat. It's going to ease the soreness, okay?" She asked.

Alex nodded and opened his mouth when the nurse prompted. She smiled and sprayed his throat and then helped him take a drink of water.

When he was done drinking Gibbs took the cup from her, nodding gratefully.

She checked a few of the monitors before leaving, letting the doctor take over.

The doctor was an older man with white hair. He stepped up to Alex.

"Well son, it seems you're recovering remarkably. I'm Doctor Mallory. The venom mainly affected your respiratory system. Your heart is fine along with your kidneys. The cuts on your chest are healing nicely we're giving you antibiotics to fight the infections you had in them. You're going to be fine. Although don't be too surprised if you're really fatigued for awhile. It'll pass." Dr. Mallory assured.

"Are you in any pain? Any troubles breathing?" He asked after checking Alex's pulse.

Alex shook his head no tiredly.

The doctor nodded.

"Okay then. If you get to hurting too bad or you can't breath then just buzz a nurse. We gotta great staff here." He said before retreating out of the room.

Now it was just the three of them.

Tony stepped up to the bed.

"Man, it's great to see you awake, Alex." He said.

Alex looked over to the man and smiled lightly.

"Thanks," He said hoarsely.

Gibbs noticed that Alex had yet to pull his hand away from his, in fact, he could feel Alex slightly squeezing his hand, as if making sure he was really there.

Alex turned his gaze back to Gibbs.

"I thought you were dead." He said.

"Dead? Why?" Gibbs asked.

"Gunshot."

Gibbs nodded, "I told you not to worry about me. I'm fine, just a small graze."

Tony looked over at Gibbs at the man's embellishment.

Alex nodded and was silent for a moment.

"Yokov?" He finally asked after awhile.

Gibbs glanced over at Tony.

"We fought. I shot him. He's dead now," Gibbs summarized decidedly.

When Alex looked at him surprised Gibbs chuckled softly.

"I told you I was going to take care of this." He said.

"We're going to keep you safe, Alex." Tony said, settling himself into the seat beside Gibbs.

Alex sighed. The doctor was right, he couldn't remember a time when he was this tired.

Tony and Gibbs watched silently as Alex began to nod off again.

When he thought Alex was finally asleep again he spoke in a soft voice.

"Boss, the Director wanted you to know that he is still handling the situation with Blunt, and Ben is with him."

"Ben's still here?" Alex asked, his voice thick with sleep. He opened his eyes and peered at the two men.

Gibbs smiled, mildly impressed. He had actually thought that the boy was asleep.

"Yeah, he's been staying at my place since you were taken. He was there when we found you too." Tony filled in.

Alex sighed lightly with his eyes closed again.

"I made him quit."

"No one _made _Ben quit. He did that on his own." Tony replied firmly.

"From the looks of it Daniels is capable agent. He's not going to have any problem finding an agency to take him. I'm sure Leon will be the first to offer too." Gibbs assured.

"Yeah, it's nothing for you to worry yourself with. Ben can take care of himself. He's actually the first spook I've ever liked...Well besides James Bond...and you, of course." Tony said thoughtfully to Alex.

"He wasn't a spy long. He started out in the SAS." Alex noted.

"Yeah, he mentioned that. He also mentioned that you kicked that 'Wolf' guy out of a plane. Gibbs kicked me out of a plane once." Tony shared cheerfully.

"I didn't kick you out of that plane, DiNozzo."

Tony chuckled, "you do when I tell the story."

There was a headslap followed by Alex's weak chuckle.

Gibbs was suddenly glad that Tony was here to relieve some of Alex's worries, even just for a little while. But Alex was tired.

"Get some sleep, Alex. You and DiNozzo can exchange stories later. It's late." Gibbs ordered.

"When can I go home?" Alex asked.

"I'll talk to the doctor. Now get some rest, you won't be going anywhere if you're tired."

Tony smiled as he watched this scene play out, especially when Alex nodded and sank lower into the bed and promptly fell asleep.

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_ ~nearly a week later~_

Gibbs looked over as he heard snoring coming from the seat beside him. DiNozzo was sawing logs as his head lolled to the side and grazed Gibbs' shoulder. Gibbs let it happen, Tony was probably as tired as Alex was, if not more.

He just hoped Tony's snoring didn't wake Alex up.

It had been a week since the boy woke up from being on the vent and Gibbs was noticing that Alex had become more and more...aware of his presence. Clingy didn't really describe it but the teen didn't like Gibbs being gone long. The marine had talked to Ducky about this and the man assured him that it was from Alex being captured with Gibbs. The boy had an attachment with him. The only one he's been attached to since Jack.

_"It will pass Jethro. He's just recovering and since you're the one that was with him through one of his darkest hours. He knows he doesn't have to be on guard as much when you're there..In a way he's beginning to let you in." _Ducky had said.

There was a shrill beeping noise followed by vibrating coming from DiNozzo's direction. Gibbs looked down to see Tony's phone balanced on the wooden arm rest of the man's chair. Deciding not to wake the man, he picked up the cell and answered it.

"Gibbs."

"Ah, Gibbs. Just who I was looking for." Came Ziva's voice. Gibbs could hear a hint of tiredness in her voice.

"Well, what is it, Ziver?" Gibbs asked.

"I was planning on talking to some of my contacts from Mossad to see if they could get information about where you were being held. But then you contacted us and we found you. I still called Israel though. It might take a bit of doing but in a few days I will have SCORPIA called off from Alex's back." Ziva relayed.

"Is this 'contact' of yours reliable?" Gibbs questioned.

"Absolutely. Not only are they good friends of my fathers, but I have quite a bit of dirt on them. They will not cross me."

"See that they don't."

"Is that Ziva?" Tony asked sleepily.

Gibbs nodded and handed the man's phone back to him. Tony stood up and walked out into the hall, closing the door behind him. DiNozzo was still handling being team leader even though Gibbs was cleared and out of the hospital. He would be taking leave until Alex was back on his feet.

Gibbs turned back to Alex. He was sleeping soundly. It wouldn't be long before the doctor came in for one of his daily visits that usually woke the boy up, if even briefly.

He looked at the bags under Alex's eyes. The doctor had been right about the teen being fatigued. Alex hadn't been able stay awake for more than twenty or thirty minutes since he had woken up the first time. Gibbs was somewhat grateful for that though, with Alex sleeping it gave his body time to heal.

The marine felt himself begin to doze until he heard the door creek back open and the doctor approached the bed quietly.

"How's he doing?" Gibbs asked.

Doctor Mallory smiled.

"Very well actually. He surprised me. I think when he finishes this saline drip we can discuss discharging him. I understand Doctor Mallard will be able to look in on him periodically? He'll need someone to take care of the cuts on his chest." He said. Ducky had called from NCIS to make sure the doctor was looking after the teen properly.

Gibbs nodded.

"Yeah, he'll be looked after." Gibbs assured.

The doctor nodded and checked a few more of Alex's vitals before turning to leave.

"It'll take a few hours for the drip to empty but he should be all set to leave. There are some medications he needs to take. I'll prescribe some painkillers as well." He assured before leaving.

Gibbs sighed. He was glad Alex was leaving the hospital, he knew Alex was getting anxious to leave. Alex needed to be home.

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Alex had never been so happy to see a house in his life as Tony pulled into Gibbs' driveway. It had been a demanding drive all the way back to DC, and it had worn Alex out. It was dark by the time they actually got there. He had slept most of the way back and it was starting to frustrate him. No matter how much he slept he still woke up feeling just as tired as he did when he fell asleep. Ducky assured him it would end soon but that didn't stop the annoyance.

Tony put the car in park and all three of them got out of the car. Alex was still a little unsteady on his feet so he was taking it slow.

DiNozzo went ahead and walked to the door and unlocked it. He had held onto all of Gibbs' things while he was gone. He also had a overnight bag in his hands. Surprisingly, it was Gibbs' idea to have Tony stay with them. He apparently wasn't taking any chances of SCORPIA invading his house again.

Gibbs stayed behind and walked slowly to the door with Alex, ready to grab onto him if he fell.

"You feeling, okay?" He asked.

"If you can believe it, I'm tired." Alex stated.

Gibbs laughed lightly.

"Give it time." He said.

They entered the house. Alex was surprised to see that the house looked spotless. There was no trace that there had ever been a kidnapping in the house.

Alex walked over and sat down tiredly on the couch. What really surprised him was the fact that there was a Television mounted on the wall across from the couch.

Tony laughed at his expression as he sat his duffel down at the side of the couch.

"Gibbs' idea. You're going to be living here and he asked me to hook you up. You're going to be spending a lot of time on that couch until Ducky clears you. Might as well keep you entertained." He explained.

Alex looked at Gibbs.

"You didn't have to do that." He objected.

"I did. It's here." The marine said simply as he produced the TV remote and placed it in Alex's hands.

Alex smiled gratefully and Tony set about showing him how to work the DVD player.

Soon, the Senior Field Agent joined Gibbs in the kitchen as the Marine poured himself some coffee before offering him some.

"No, thanks Boss. Your coffee keeps me up. I don't know how you sleep drinking that stuff all the time." Tony noted.

Gibbs only shrugged as he sipped his precious drink.

"We've got agents outside as lookouts. We're not going to let a repeat of last time happen. At least until Ziva can get her assassin friends to get SCORPIA off Alex's trail. Are you sure coming back here's such a good idea, Boss? I mean wouldn't a safe house be safer?" Tony asked.

Gibbs shook his head.

"I messed up last time. No one's getting in this house again." The Marine vowed, "And Alex deserves to have a stable home. They're not going to make the kid run again. He's just now starting to relax here."

Tony nodded, knowing Gibbs knew what he was doing.

"Well, Ziva said she should be hearing word any day now." He said.

"Director say anything to you about Blunt yet?" Gibbs asked.

Tony shook his head, "I think he'd rather talk to you about that, Boss. He's not too keen on keeping me informed.

Gibbs only nodded at Vance's weird ways.

"I'll handle it." He said.

Tony stretched his tired limbs.

"Well, I gotta head back to NCIS. The agents are watching the house, Boss. Don't forget and shoot one of them. I'll call before I come back in the house," He joked as he went for the door.

Gibbs went back into the living room to ask Alex if he was hungry and he smiled as he saw that the blonde had taken his shoes off and was lying with his feet up on the couch, sound asleep. The television was playing a soccer game.

_"Or football,"_ Gibbs thought as he thought about the way Alex was accustomed to it being called.

The silver haired man went slowly up the stairs and grabbed a blanket before going down and draping it over the boy. They could eat when he woke up.

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Gibbs came down the basement slower than usual, as his stitches pulled annoyingly. He was still toweling his wet hair off, the long shower he had taken made him feel loads better.

He smiled lightly when he saw the ruffled blonde haired boy, dressed in pajamas, leaning over his workspace. The man's smile faltered a bit as he saw what Alex was so absorbed with.

Alex's head snapped up as he noticed Gibbs. He looked guiltily at the photo album in his hands.

"I...didn't mean to snoop. I came down here looking for you, then I heard the shower come on." Alex explained, clearly worried Gibbs would be angry with him for looking at his things.

If it had been anyone else looking at his things without his permission he probably would have been mad but, for some reason, not with Alex.

Gibbs came over and looked at the album in the teen's hands.

The picture had been taken when Kelly was six, at Christmas time. Kelly was holding up a wooden plaque that had her name carved into it. She had an arm around a darker haired Gibbs. They were both laughing as, presumably, Shannon snapped their photo.

"Did you make that?" Alex asked, he was still amazed at how skilled Gibbs was with wood.

Gibbs swallowed hard and didn't speak fro a moment.

Noticing the hesitation, Alex back tracked.

"Sorry, we don't have to talk about this." He said, moving to close the book.

Alex realized that he was trying to evade his own mourning by crudely bringing up Gibbs' pain.

Gibbs stopped him from closing the book though.

"Yeah, I made it. I didn't expect her to like it as much as she did. But she wouldn't open anymore presents until we hung the plaque up on the outside of her door. She surprised me. Even made me promise to make her a new one every year, no matter how old she got" Gibbs recalled before sighing.

He moved over to a chest under the stairs and pulled it out. He motioned for Alex to come over.

Alex did so with a curious expression on his face. The older man opened the chest and Alex peered in.

Wooden plaques. Each one with Kelly's name on them wrote in a different style. Alex didn't count them but he guessed there had to be at least twenty of them there.

"You kept making them." Alex stated.

"I made a promise...And I couldn't seem to bring myself to stop." Gibbs said.

Alex nodded before heaving a heavy sigh as he walked back over to the work bench.

"Does it get easier?" The teen asked softly after a moment. A death had never hit him this hard. Even his own uncle's death didn't seem as bad as Jack's had.

"Some," Gibbs answered honestly, refusing to lie to the boy.

"Losing someone's never easy, Alex. But, with time, it'll get easier. Especially if you're surrounded by the right people." He came over and gave Alex a nudge, "And you are. You tell them I said this I'll deny it, but, my team really helped me. And they'll do the same for you." He concluded.

Still not able to manage more than a small grateful smile, Alex nodded.

Gibbs put a hand on the back of Alex's neck, he felt tension leave the boy's shoulders under his touch.

"Now come on, you need to eat and then you need to relax." Gibbs said, moving to the stairs with the blonde, his hand never leaving Alex's neck.

He guided the teen up the stairs and to the kitchen table. Gingerly and tiredly Alex accepted the seat. The cuts on his chest were beginning to throb. He was starting to think that his trip to the basement had been a bad idea.

He watched as Gibbs shuffled around the kitchen and started the microwave. Alex knew Gibbs had to be tired too, he had barely left his side.

It was as if Gibbs knew Alex didn't want to be alone.

Yes, when Jack died he had wanted nothing more than to be alone. But ever since he and Gibbs had been rescued and he woke up, he felt nervous about being alone without Gibbs nearby. That's why he had came down to the basement. To look for Gibbs. Lately, the marine made him feel secure in a way he had not felt before. But he didn't want the man to run himself ragged for him.

Alex stood up from his seat.

"Gibbs, I can get that," he objected.

But the marine wouldn't have none of it. He silently came over and pushed the teen gently back down into the seat. For a second, Alex thought he was mad at him the way he was acting, but then he felt Gibbs' hand go through the back of his hair.

"I got it." Was all he said before he turned back to the microwave just as it dinged.

Gibbs pulled out the plate of pasta and sat it in front of the boy. Then he walked back to the counter and grabbed the two pill bottles with Alex's name on them. He shook out one from each and walked back to the table, giving the medication to Alex.

"One's the antibiotic. The other is the painkiller." He said.

Alex sighed but decided not to argue with the man. He had learned that from his last round of painkillers from the hospital. Gibbs could tell when he was hurting and wouldn't take no for an answer on the medication department.

He picked up his coke he had from earlier and downed both of the pills.

"Did you make this?" Alex asked as he turned back to his food and picked up the fork. He didn't think he had slept long enough for Gibbs to make dinner and have time for it to get cold.

But Gibbs shook his head.

"Ziva cooked. She cooks mean Italian food." He said as he sat down with his own plate of food.

"You didn't have to wait on me to eat," Alex said awkwardly. He wasn't sure how he felt about Gibbs paying so much attention to him. It was late but Gibbs had still waited until he was awake before he ate his dinner.

Gibbs shrugged.

"When I was younger my dad always made it a point to make sure that we had at least one meal together." He explained quietly.

Oddly, Alex liked the idea of that. Most people dread trying to keep conversations up with Gibbs, but Alex finds that somehow he manages to learn something new about the man before him everyday.

Alex nodded and began eating.

"Where is your dad? You said he was out of the hospital, he's going to be okay, right?" he asked.

"He's fine. He's staying at Ziva's for tonight. His house is cleared, he can go back home. McGee'll drive him back home tomorrow. Dad came to see you while you were in the hospital." Gibbs assured.

"I'm really sorry your dad got hurt, Gibbs...And that you nearly died. I kinda ruined your dad's visit." Alex apologized, his head bent low over his plate.

Gibbs sighed. This kid wasn't _ever_ going to get it.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you this one more time. Are you listening?" He asked sternly.

This wasn't a tone Alex was used to from Gibbs. At least not _to_ him. He nodded mutely, finding that his eyes refused to stray from Gibbs' ice blue ones.

"Good. Now look, I don't know why you feel the need to be sorry. Yes, you have people after you. We all know you come with a past. I took you in knowing all of that. That means your problems are now my problems. So, stop saying your sorry. What happened was my fault. But it is not going to happen again."

"Your fault? But-" Alex was cut off when he saw the ferocious glare Gibbs was aiming at him from the other side of the table.

"Okay," Alex relented quietly.

"Good. Now-" Gibbs was cut off by his phone giving off a shrill ring. He looked at the caller ID and smiled.

"You know how to put this thing on speaker? It's Abby. Might as well let her talk to the both of us at once." He said, tossing the phone to Alex.

The teen smiled at Gibbs' technology skills as he answered the phone and put it on speaker then setting it on the table in the middle of them so that he could resume eating.

"Hey, Abs." Gibbs greeted through a mouthful of spaghetti.

_"Gibbs! Tony told me that you and Alex were both home. I wanted to come see you both, but Tony said that it was too late and that Alex was sleeping when he left. He's okay, right? I know Ducky told me that he was okay but-"_

"Abby, I'm fine." Alex said with an embarrassed look.

_"Alex! I was soooo worried about you. I'm really sorry I couldn't come see you when you were in the hospital. Everyone was so worried about you. Well, Gibbs too but Gibbs is always okay. But we __know that Gibbs wouldn't let anything happen to you either-"_

"Abby, you're rambling." Alex said with a laugh. He really loved the goth.

_"Right, sorry. I'm just so happy to hear the both of your voices. I can come visit tomorrow, __right?"_

"You know you're always welcome here, Abs." Gibbs said. Alex could hear the affection in the man's voice.

_"Great! I heard you got a plasma screen! I'll bring movies and we can have a movie night!" _

"Whatever you want, Abs. Don't be working too long tonight."

_"You got it. Night, Bossman. I'll see you tomorrow, Alex." _She said before disconnecting the call.

Gibbs closed the phone.

"You want another plate?" He asked Alex, gesturing to the now empty plate as Alex took his last bite. Alex shook his head.

"No, I think I'm just going to go up to bed." Alex said standing up, his eyes blinking slowly.

"Alright, DiNozzo should be back soon. I'll be down here until then if you need me."

"Night."

The marine waited until Alex's footsteps were all the way up the stairs before he stood and went to the living room. He stepped up to his safe on the shelf and spun the dial. Once he had it opened he pulled out his gun. Tony assured him that's where he had put his sig for him. He checked to make sure that it was loaded before stowing it in the waistband of his sweats.

He made a mistake but it wasn't one that he was going to make again.

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_Alex was tied to a chair again. There was no leeway in the cuffs that restrained him to the chair. The room he was in was dark._

_ He heard a shuffling behind him and there was no way to turn around as the movement came closer to him. He felt hot breath on the back of his neck._

_ "Are you ready to die, Alex Rider?" A voice asked. Yokov._

_ Alex's breathe hitched._

_ "Gibbs killed you." He said._

_ There was an evil laugh. Alex still couldn't see the man. Just hear him._

_ "You really believed that." He stated. There was another shuffling noise before a body was dropped at Alex's feet, a light coming from seemingly nowhere came on. He looked down and gasped loudly._

_ Gibbs was lying at his feet and he was covered in blood. His body was riddled with bullet holes._

_ "There's your so called savior. You actually thought that man was going to be able to save you. You're all alone now. Your guardian was killed because of you and now your adopted father is now dead. I'm starting to see a pattern here, Alex." Yokov said._

_ Alex couldn't breathe. Everything was crumbling around him._

_ Gibbs was dead. The man that had tried to help him had been shot at least five times before the last kill shot hit his forehead._

_ "And that's not all, Alex. Take a look," Yokov said gleefully._

_ Suddenly bodies were being piled beside Gibbs'._

_ One by one Alex felt his stomach clench and his chest constrict as his eyes fell on each dead body before him._

_ McGee. Ziva. Tony. Vance. Ducky. Abby. All dead._

_ "Right before they died I asked them if they regretted helping you. Do you know what each on of them said? Yes! None of them wanted to help you they just felt obligated. Gibbs himself used his last breath to say that you weren't worth the trouble."_

_ Alex closed his eyes tight against the hot tears escaping his eyes._

_ "This isn't happening." He objected._

_ "Oh, but it is. Don't worry though, you're about to be put out of your misery."_

_ Alex saw movement on the floor. He stopped breathing all together as he saw the scorpions. There looked to be at least twenty of them. They were making there was towards him and clawing their way up his legs._

_ "Wha- No! Get them off!" Alex panicked. He remembered the pain, the panic, coursing through his body from just one scorpion, he couldn't bare the thought of multiple stings._

_ But suddenly he was alone. No voices behind him, not even the bodies. Just him and the scorpions._

_ He could feel them scurrying over his body, their tails poised to strike. All he could do was close his eyes and wait for the pain..._

_ ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()_

Gibbs stayed in the living room until he heard Tony pull up. He went to the door and unlocked it.

"Hey, Boss. You didn't have to wait up, I had a key." Tony reminded as he went to the couch and sat down heavily.

"Yeah, when this is over I want that back, DiNozzo. I'm going to bed." Gibbs replied tiredly.

Tony smiled at Gibbs' bluntness most people would have been put out at the man's ways. But Tony could see the tiredness etched on the man's face. He also knew Gibbs got testy when he was worried about something.

Tony was about to nod off himself when he ran a hand over his face and winced at the stubble he felt. He sighed. He hadn't had time to shave. He knew he wasn't going to be able to go to sleep with his face scratching against his pillow all night.

He grabbed his shaver and cream and made his way upstairs to the bathroom. He kept his steps light. The bathroom was right beside Alex's door and he didn't want to risk waking him.

As his hand rested on the bathroom door knob he heard the gasping from the room beside him.

He knew he should probably go and get Gibbs but he found himself opening Alex's door and walking in. He saw Alex's chest heaving quickly but his body was ridged as if he was afraid to move. His eyes were clenched so tight it looked like it hurt and there was a fine sheen of sweat on his face.

Tony quickly moved closer to the boy's bed. He doesn't remember where he dropped his shaver and the shaving cream but they weren't in his hands by the time he got to Alex.

He crouched beside the boy and put a hand on his shoulder and shook.

"Alex? Come on, buddy. Wake up." He urged.

"Get them off...get them off..." Alex muttered. His breathing was still hard, his body getting even more tense.

"Alex! Come on." Tony said, realizing he couldn't do this on his own he turned to the door and yelled, "Boss!"

He heard a nearby door pop open almost immediately and the hurried steps of Gibbs entering the room.

"Get them off...Gibbs!" Alex yelled, his voice suddenly becoming loud and panicked. DiNozzo was shocked to see that the boy was still asleep despite his loudness.

Tony felt Gibbs coming up and he stood and moved out of the man's way.

The Senior Field Agent watched his mentor in awe as he sat calmly on the side of the bed.

They could hear the teen still frantically muttering, "Get them off...'M sorry, Gibbs."

Gibbs put a hand on Alex's cheek, holding it lightly, the other hand going to the boy's hair.

"Alex," He called softly, "Wake up. They're not on you anymore. I've got them. You're not going to be hurt anymore." The man didn't need do be told what was actually plaguing the boy's mind.

Tony watched as Gibbs kept saying these things trying to wake Alex. Just when Tony thought he couldn't handle hearing the blonde cry out he saw Alex's eyes fly open wide. Alex's hands when to his body and he started trying to brush and invisible being off.

"Hey, calm down. Nothing's on you. You're okay," Gibbs assured, stilling the frantic hands.

Alex sat up and put his legs up, his elbows resting on his knees as he put his face in his hands as he tried to calm himself.

"Tony, you wanna go get a glass of water," Gibbs called lightly. He knew DiNozzo would get the hint that he wanted to be alone with Alex.

"Sure, Boss." Tony called before leaving the room.

Gibbs rested a hand on Alex's back, rubbing it back and forth.

"What was that dream about?" Gibbs asked. He was done asking if Alex _wanted_ to tell him about his dreams. Especially if they were getting this real.

Alex sighed tiredly.

"It's stupid, Gibbs. Don't worry about it." Alex hedged as he looked up, but focused his gaze on the door.

"If it managed to freak you out this bad I'd have to disagree, now spill." Gibbs replied, getting into a more comfortable position to show Alex that he wasn't planning on leaving until he revealed his dream.

Alex sighed again.

"I...It was about Yokov. He wasn't dead and I was back with him. Tied to a chair. He had managed to kill everyone. The team...even Vance, Ducky, and Abby...and you. He dropped everyone's bodies right in front of me. Then he said that you used your last breathe to say that I wasn't worth the trouble."

"And?" Gibbs asked, wanting to get the whole story before Alex clammed up again.

"And then he said he was going to kill me and then scorpions came out of nowhere and was climbing all over me...about to sting me." Alex laughed bitterly, "see? It's stupid. Now can I go back to bed now?"

This time Gibbs laughed, "You're seriously going to be able to go back to bed after that?" He asked.

Alex shrugged, "Probably not." He muttered, he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"It's okay to have night terrors. I've seen men come back from war with far worse nightmares than this. You've been hurt. It's okay to _hurt_."

Alex was quiet, but then he nodded silently. The boy then felt two fingers under his chin lifting his head up to look Gibbs in the eye.

"And you _are_ worth the trouble." He said firmly, Gibbs' ice blue eyes staring deep into the teen's eyes.

"Thanks, Gibbs. I don't think I can say that enough."

Gibbs snorted, "_Yes, _you can." He joked.

"I think DiNozzo got lost on the stairs. Come on, we'll go get you something to drink then maybe we can watch a movie on the theater screen Tony mounted on the wall. I feel like I should charge admission just to watch it."

** A/n- Tada! **

**I hope you guys liked this one. It was actually longer than it usually is...I was so excited when I saw how long it was.**

** The story's starting to focus on Gibbs and Alex for a few more chapters. Don't worry though, Blunt's not off the hook.**

** Now for my unrelated notes;**

** WHO is following NCIS currently right now? This whole P2P killer thing is sooo awesome and who else is worried about this EJ thing?...I'm doing my best to keep it spoiler free here lol **

**And May 3rd is the NCIS episode called 'Baltimore' that's centered around Tony and we get to see just how Tony met Gibbs!**

** Has anyone read SCORPIA Rising yet? Ugh, I loved it but cried at the end. For more than the reason that the book series is practically over.:''( Let me know.**

** And lastly, I want to thank everyone who was for the Supernatural/ Alex Rider crossover! Way more people than I thought was for this story...soooo if you don't already have me on Author Alert...go to the crossover section and find the supernatural archive and you'll find yourselves a nice surprise! I can't wait for you guys to tell me what you think about this new crossover.**

** OH, and if anyone's on Twitter you should follow me! Icin_Nicole **


	26. Chapter 26

Gibbs watched from one end of the couch as Alex slept on the other, curled up with blanket that the marine had draped over him early in the morning.

Alex refused to sleep any that night, even refused to go back to his own bed.

In the end, Gibbs and Alex occupied the couch while Tony got what sleep he could in Alex's room.

Alex had managed to stay awake until round 6am before the exhausted boy dropped off. Gibbs didn't go back to his own room for the rest of the night, getting what sleep he could on the end of the couch.

Tony was in the kitchen moving as quietly as he could to let Alex sleep. Tony brought him a cup of coffee when he saw that Gibbs was awake. The Marine could tell Tony was still a bit shaken about Alex's nightmare since the man kept looking at the teen like he was a ticking bomb. He just hoped that DiNozzo didn't make Alex embarrassed when he woke up.

Gibbs was watching a football game on TV when he finally heard the front door open quietly and he saw Ducky and Abby enter the room. This was the most he had heard Abby be quiet, even her combat boots were moving silently.

He motioned for the woman to come and take his place before whispering to yell if she needed him. She eagerly took his spot watching vigil over the boy like a silent black clothed protector.

Then he herded his oldest friend to the kitchen. Ducky walked in with his medical bag and sat down at the table with Tony.

Gibbs sighed and leaned against the counter.

"I take it we didn't have a good night?" Ducky surmised.

DiNozzo snorted at the understatement.

"Tony walked in on Alex having a pretty bad nightmare. Shook them both up pretty bad. Alex didn't get back to sleep until six this morning." Gibbs answered, ignoring Tony's indignant look at being called 'shook up'.

"Well, that's certainly not going to help Alex heal if he's not getting the right rest, Jethro." Ducky admonished.

"Well, Duck, I can't exactly force him to sleep."

"We could drug him?" Tony put in, which got glares from both of the older men.

"I think medicating the boy should be used as a last resort, Anthony." Ducky answered sternly.

"Thanks for that, Ducky." They heard a voice from the doorway call.

Alex and Abby entered the kitchen, Alex's eyes permanently glued to the floor, avoiding all gazes. The boy and the goth joined the men at the table.

"Good morning, lad. How are you feeling?" Ducky asked as Gibbs went over quietly began to fix Alex something to eat.

"It's two in the afternoon, Ducky. You shouldn't have let me sleep this late." Alex said, his last statement directed towards Gibbs.

"You needed it." Came the simple reply.

"And you don't have to jump up and fix me something to eat just because I woke up." Alex said exasperatedly, watching as Gibbs didn't stop his motions.

"I do when you're sick." Was Gibbs' only reply.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

Alex's retort was cut off as Abby put a hand on his shoulder and stage whispered, "Alex, this is a fight you're going to lose. When Gibbs shifts into Papa Bear mode there's no stopping him. He won't admit it, but he secretly likes taking care of people."

Gibbs could obviously hear her as a small smirk appeared on his lips but Alex noticed he didn't correct her either.

Alex sighed and shook his head, letting the subject drop for the moment.

"Maybe if you're lucky he'll make the eggs and bacon into a smiley face." Tony teased, testing the waters.

"Are you jealous, Tony? I'm sure Gibbs can do the same for you." Alex joined in with a small smile.

A silent agreement that what happened last night would stay between them.

Ducky then took his cue and put his bag on the table.

"Alright, let's take a look at those arms before you eat, we'll worry about your chest later." He said, motioning the teen to show him his forearms.

Alex was about to protest but the glare he got from Gibbs prompted him otherwise so he relented, they really were beginning to itch a bit.

Alex watched as The ME started with his sting, it was the one that hurt the most at the moment and was probably the nastiest looking.

The blonde looked over at Tony who didn't seem the least bit bothered about watching Ducky tend to his swollen and slightly pus-filled wound as he ate his lunch. One crime scene too many, Alex thought.

The doctor examined the arm expertly, causing Alex nearly no pain before applying some cool ointment that took any pain away.

Moving on to the next arm, he moved a bit more slowly. The cut on his arm had required ten stitches and was highly infected by the time they were rescued. This wound did cause Alex to wince a bit as Ducky prodded it and applied a different kind of salve on it.

"Sorry, Alex, I'm done now. We'll let those get some air before we bandage them back up." Ducky apologized.

"It's okay, Ducky." Alex said with a small smile as Gibbs sat a plate down in front of him. He nearly fell out of his chair when he saw the plate...his food in the shape of a smiley face.

"Are you trying to be cute?" Alex asked as he ignored Tony's laugh.

"Is it working?" The marine asked as he sat down and picked up his coffee.

"Yes!" Abby said with a smile as big as the one on his plate.

Alex glared at his food but began to eat to hide the fact that he was fighting a smile himself. Gibbs had his moments.

"Has Jackson already left?" He asked after awhile.

Gibbs nodded his head.

"McGee and Ziva took him home. He wanted to stay and say goodbye to you but he could only leave the store he owns closed for so long. Thanksgiving's coming up, he'll be back then. And I'm sure he'll call once he's settled back at his house." He assured, glad that Alex had come to like his father.

Alex nodded. Wow, in as little as month he had become a American planning on celebrating Thanksgiving with his grandfather.

Abby and Tony took over most of the conversation during the rest of Alex's meal. They were immersed in talking about which movie they were going to watch first, Abby wanted horror and Tony wanted a classic black and white gangster movie. When Alex was done they moved into the sitting room, leaving Ducky and Gibbs in the kitchen. In the end Abby won, getting her horror movie.

Gibbs could hear the screams of a girl on the TV screen that was overacting horribly.

"Despite the boy's nightmares, I'd say that being back home has done wonders for him. He already has more color to his face." Ducky surmised.

"Think the team's helping a lot. Tony especially. He's certainly keeping Alex's mind off Jack." Gibbs noted.

"Despite his teasing, I would be willing to bet Anthony would have been a terrific older brother given the chance. But don't get the facts crossed Jethro, your presence is helping the boy too."

Gibbs snorted.

"Oh yeah? Which part, Duck? Getting him kidnapped? Or not being able to do anything while those bastards hurt him?" He asked.

"Jethro, come on, wallowing in this guilt isn't going to do any good. He doesn't blame you, why are you doing this to yourself?"

"I promised. Not only him, but his guardian. I don't like breaking promises. I'm better than this." Gibbs berated.

"You put too much blame on your shoulders all of the time. Alex knows you're not Superman, and he doesn't expect you to be. He just wants someone he can count on. He doesn't have a father figure in his life to protect him or to tell him that he did a good job. Jethro, you're that person now. That's all he wants. And you're doing it. Do you think he fell asleep at six this morning because he was exhausted? That may have been part of it but he _stayed_ asleep, with no nightmares, because you were there."

Gibbs shook his head.

"He fell asleep and stayed asleep because he was dead on his feet. His mind didn't have the energy to create a nightmare."

This time Ducky laughed.

"I think you're underestimating the power of the human mind, my friend." Ducky said.

"You didn't see him when he woke up, Ducky. He was scared. He thought he was back with Yokov alone."

"Ahh, but there it is, Jethro. He thought he was back with that assassin _alone_." Ducky said with a knowing smile.

Gibbs sighed and shook his head, no longer having the energy to fight with his friend.

"Whatever you say, Ducky." He relented.

"He'll show you, Jethro." The Examiner promised.

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_**-late that night-**_

"Ziva, it's late what are we doing in MTAC?" Tony protested as he tried to get comfortable in the theater chair.

The Israeli sighed apprehensively. She had instructed Tony and McGee to meet her in MTAC at 1am.

"Okay, I have been pulling the truth a little about me having contacts that could get Alex out of harms way with SCORPIA." She hedged.

"It's stretching the truth. What are you talking about? Can you help Alex or not, Ziva?" Tony asked.

"Yes, of course I would not lead you astray with something like this, but I left out one tiny detail."

"About what?" Tony asked again getting even more confused by his partner.

"My contact. He is not just a contact, Tony." Ziva said, glancing around to make sure they were alone. "My contact is Levi Kroll. He's one of the Head Executives of SCORPIA."

Tony's eyes bugged as he and McGee exchanged shocked glances.

"How do you know one of the Executives of SCORPIA, Ziva?" McGee asked.

"He works for Mossad." She stated.

"What? You know he's a criminal and yet he's still with Mossad? Does your father know?" Tony spouted.

"No, my father does not know. That is the leverage I plan on using tonight." Ziva informed.

"Tonight? He's here? You brought a SCORPIA head to DC? Are you crazy Alex is-" Tony was caught off by Ziva.

"Tony! Do I look like an idiot to you? That is why we are in MTAC. McGee you can operate the controls by yourself, no?" Ziva asked her friend.

"Of course, it's simple all I have to do is-"

"Good," Ziva cut McGee off too, there was only so much time. "Get it set up."

McGee nodded and went over to the system and began pressing buttons. Ziva had already instructed the MTAC operators to clear out for awhile. No one dared to defy the woman.

Tony sized her up.

"You do realize this isn't exactly legal, right? NCIS isn't supposed to negotiate with criminals." He said, but made no move to stop McGee.

"I am not negotiating. I am threatening." Ziva replied smoothly.

Tony smirked but turned and waited for the screen to light up with the SCORPIA members face. As he was waiting his thoughts drifted to Alex and his nightmare the night before.

Tony was never technically an orphan, but on most days of his childhood he borderlined on it.

His mother had died young, Tony was only eight when she passed. He had loved his mother. She was the most parental figure he had in his life and after she died he was alone with senior. His father had never wanted kids. So, off to boarding school it was. No, he was never physically neglected he had all he could ever want. Food, clothes, toys, you name it. But it wasn't the material things DiNozzo yearned for as a kid, it was the closeness with his father that he wanted. Emotional neglect can hurt just as much as the physical.

He knew Alex was pretty much in that boat too. All the teen wanted was someone to rely on, someone he could turn to when his world came crashing down in front of him. Every one he had once relied on for that kind of support was now dead.

But now here was his boss, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, here to save the day. Tony had always known Gibbs would make a perfect dad. It was cruel fate that someone with that much fatherly tendencies to have their child ripped from his life. Kelly Gibbs had been one lucky girl in the parent department.

At least now Gibbs' amazing parenting abilities were being put to good use again. God knows Alex Rider needed it.

DiNozzo was jerked out of this thoughts as a face suddenly appeared on the screen. The man was older and had a long beard. What was more startling was the fact that this man was wearing an eye patch. Tony had to restrain himself from making a pirate joke.

"Shalom, Levi." Ziva greeted.

"Ah, Ziva. How good it is to see you again. I hear you're still a liaison with NCIS? Come now, I'm sure your abilities can be used better elsewhere, don't you think?" Levi Kroll greeted rather bluntly.

"I did not request this meeting to discuss me." Ziva replied, ignoring the jabs at her career decisions.

"Ah, yes, I was wondering when I was going to get this call from you. You wish to discuss Alex Rider, yes?" Levi asked sitting back in his chair.

Ziva nodded.

Kroll sighed.

"There's nothing I can do, Ziva." He stated, "Kurst is very adamant about this child. He wants the boy dead."

"I am sorry to hear that, Levi. That means there's nothing I can do about my father finding out about your relations with SCORPIA. You know how my father feels about betrayal."

Kroll glared, "We had a deal."

Ziva shrugged, "My father is the head of Mossad it would go against all that I am if I did not tell him about this. Right now, there is a friend of mine within Mossad who will give my father every file I know about you and SCORPIA, he is with my father now. All I have to do is make one call. You are still at Mossad headquarters. If my father finds out about your betrayal to him you will be dead before you can get to an elevator."

Kroll began to curse loudly in Hebrew, he knew he was caught. Tony and McGee were keeping quiet, letting Ziva do her magic.

"What do you propose I do?" The man finally asked.

"That is not my problem. Just get them to leave Alex alone."

Kroll laughed.

"I don't think you realize the impact Rider has had on SCORPIA this past year, Ziva. He _killed_ the former head of SCORPIA along with a top assassin with a _hot air balloon._ The kid's dangerous."

Ziva, McGee and Tony exchanged glances, murder with a hot air balloon. They didn't think Alex was ever going to quit surprising them.

"I do no care what the boy has done. It is irrelevant. Everything he has done it has been to survive in a world to which he does not belong. I am confident that you will figure out a way to neutralize the situation. And know that any attempts at disappearing will be found out. I have eyes everywhere."

Kroll sighed heavily.

"You are still as lethal as ever, Ziva. It's good to see that your years with NCIS has not softened you completely." He belittled once more before ending the feed.

"That's it?" Tony asked.

"Yes, that is all I need. He will handle SCORPIA unless he wants my father to know he has been lying to him for years." Ziva assured.

"Okay, then. Whatever you say. How long will it take for you to get back in touch with this guy?" Tony asked.

"A few days, at least. He will need time to come up with a proper plan to get his boss to change his mind about wanting Alex." Ziva explained as they walked out of MTAC.

"What exactly will this guy do?" McGee asked.

Ziva shrugged, "either he will attempt to talk Kurst out of his plans or he will kill him instead."

"And this Kurst guy? He's the new head of SCORPIA?" McGee asked again.

Ziva nodded, "I had heard that a member of SCORPIA had been killed but no one said that it was because of a _child._"

They reached there desks and Tony yawned.

"Well, I gotta get to the Boss's house. I've already left them too long." He said, he really did hope that Ziva's 'friend' got rid of SCORPIA. He missed his old bed. Ever since Gibbs and Alex had been rescued he had been staying with them. Gibbs was adamant about not messing up again.

"Tony, if you want to get a night's rest in your own home Ziva or me would have no problem taking over for you tonight." McGee offered, knowing his friend had to be getting tired.

"Thanks, Probie. Maybe tomorrow night. Gibbs is already expecting me." Tony replied as the trio headed for the elevator.

Although secretly Tony was hoping that Gibbs had cooked dinner and had saved him a plate of food. The man could cook.

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Gibbs sighed. Tonight was going to be a rough night. It had been two days and Alex still wasn't sleeping. He could see the teen was on the verge of exhaustion. With no sleep the teen's battered body wasn't recuperating and Ducky was nearly in fits because of it. The marine knew something had to be done, time for a dose of his renowned 'tough love'.

He found Alex sitting on the couch reading a sports magazine with tired, worn out eyes.

Alex looked a bit surprised when Gibbs sat down beside him. Normally, at this time of night, he was up to his elbows in sawdust working on his boat.

"We need to talk,' Gibbs said bluntly.

Alex gave a knowing sigh.

"I had a feeling this was coming," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it's okay, Gibbs. It's not your fault." Alex assured.

Gibbs gave a look of confusion.

"Alex, what are you talking about?" he asked.

"You were going to say you couldn't look after me anymore, right?"

"You think that's-" Gibbs yelled before stopping himself.

Alex was mildly shocked by the man's shouting but what was more shocking was when Gibbs got up and stormed out of the room.

The teen watched the man leave just as the front door opened and DiNozzo strolled in.

"Hey, Boss. What's for..." He heard Tony's voice trail off Gibbs stormed pass him and slam the door to the basement as he disappeared into it's depth.

Tony came warily into the room with his eyebrows raised questioningly.

"What was that about?" He asked Alex.

"I don't know. We were talking then he nearly yelled and he stormed out." Alex explained, nearly as perplexed as Tony.

"He _yelled_ at you?" Tony asked in dismay. Gibbs _never_ lost his temper with kids...never.

"Almost. He stopped himself."

"Well, what were you talking about? Gibbs doesn't just fly off the handle...well, to kids anyways. You must have really set him off." Tony said, sitting down beside the teen.

"He said that we needed to talk and I just assumed he meant that all of this was finally catching up with him and he didn't think he could look after me anymore."

Tony then got quiet for a moment before he starting mumbling, "Could it be? No, it's not possible." To himself.

Alex scrubbed his tired eyes.

"Tony, come on, what's going on?" He asked.

"Well Al'...I, uh, think you hurt his feelings." Tony assured as if he didn't believe the words coming out of his own mouth.

"Oh, yeah, right. I know I haven't been around all that long but I do know that Gibbs just doesn't _ get_ his feelings hurt." Alex replied.

"I think you have a bigger impact on Gibbs than you think. He didn't do this because he felt bad for you. He likes you Alex. And I think he feels a little frustrated that you don't feel the same." Tony answered confidently. After seven years**(1) **he was glad he could read his boss' feelings through his actions so well. It only scared him because he knew Gibbs could do the same to him.

"I never said that I didn't feel the same, Tony. It's just...I don't know. Everytime he tries to show that he cares..I panic, I guess. I don't know why. Everytime he tries to parent or get closer I push him away."

Tony stretched on the couch.

"There could be a number of things, and I'm not going to pretend to be Ducky and analyze you, because only you know the reason you to that. But you gotta know that this isn't easy on Gibbs either. He's doing what he can but he needs a little reciprocation. You should talk to him." He said.

Alex was quiet for a while, lost in his thoughts before he came to a decision and stood up.

"Where are you going?"

Alex sighed.

"Gibbs said he wanted to talk earlier. So, we're going to talk. You're right, I owe him that much."

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Alex marched himself down to the basement, knowing that if he hesitated even a bit he might chicken out.

At the middle of the steps Alex could see Gibbs leaning against the work counter sipping on what Alex guessed was Bourbon.

"Can we talk?" Alex asked hesitantly. It didn't occur to him until now that maybe Gibbs wouldn't want to talk to him.

"Of course," Gibbs replied coolly, his temper now extinguished.

Alex took a deep breath, he was about to do something he had never done before. Share.

"You scare me." He said eventually, so sheepishly Gibbs thought he had heard him wrong.

Guilt washed over the Marine.

"Look, I didn't mean to yell at you, I-"

"No," Alex interrupted, "Not that. Not like physically scare me."

Gibbs looked at him questioningly.

Alex walked around the half built boat before starting.

"No one's paid me attention like you have...Not since Ian. And if they did pay attention it was because they wanted something. Even Jack was more of a sister than a mother. Ian was the only...'parent' figure I've known. And I like it here...with you and that scares me. I don't want to have a family again if it's just going to be ripped away. It hurts."

By the time Alex was done talking, Gibbs was putting his drink down and was standing in front of the boy. The teen's voice broke a fraction on the last word and that was all the incentive Gibbs needed. He grabbed Alex's shoulders and pulled him in for a careful but affectionate hug. The teen stiffened for a moment before giving into the man's comforting hold.

Gibbs rested his chin on top of Alex's head.

"I don't know what it's going to take to convince you that you don't have to worry about that anymore. I know that this is new to you. But I'm not going to make you go through that pain again. You can bet on it." He pulled Alex at arms length to look the boy straight in the eyes.

"You're my son, now. I want you around. I _want _you to be here. It's you and me now. Okay?" He asked, his ice blue eyes giving Alex all the comfort he needed.

The teen nodded, knowing words wouldn't be able to escape his mouth.

Gibbs knew it wasn't necessary but nevertheless the engulfed the blonde in another hug.

"Good."

When they finally pulled away from each other Alex looked up to the man.

"What _did _you want to talk to me about earlier?" He asked.

Gibbs nodded and sighed, knowing that their moment was about to be replaced with an argument.

"You have to get some sleep tonight. You can't keep going on like this." He replied.

"I can't-"

Gibbs reached into his pocket and pulled out a pill bottle and tossed them to the boy.

Alex read the bottle and looked sharply up at the man.

"Sleeping pills?" He asked.

"You need them. Just for a night or two at least. Ducky recommended, and I think it's a good idea." Gibbs said lightly.

"_Why?"_ Alex asked looking at the container like Gibbs had told him that there were illegal drugs in it.

"Have you seen yourself? You're exhausted and this is the best way to do it."

Alex shook his head.

"No." He protested.

But Gibbs was having none of it.

"Just long enough for you to get your rest back. You know you can't avoid sleep and waiting until you fall out because of exhaustion isn't going to help. You're still recovering. I made Duck get you a low dose. It's not going to knock you out just aid you to sleep. And I'm not going to let you have a nightmare. I'll be right there to wake you up if you do."

Alex sighed.

"You don't have to watch me sleep like I'm eight. They're just nightmares." He said.

"I know. Now, come on," Gibbs urged as he handed the boy a bottle of water he had left down in the basement from earlier.

Alex sighed tiredly. A un-interupted night's rest did sound nice.

"One night, that's it." He said decidedly to the man.

"Fine." Gibbs agreed.

**A/N- hellooo there... I know this is loong overdue and for that I'm soooo sorry. Everything's hectic around here.**

**This chapter is unbetaed so there wiill be mistakes and for that I'm sorry.**

**And not for the part most of you are thinking of...Yes this is probably waaaay OOC buut it needed to happen for Gibbs and Alex to get closer.**

**Did anyone like the Levi Kroll character not being dead? As you know Scorpia Rising never happened for this story so he iiiis alive**

**(1)- I've decided to set this in season 7 you'll find out probably next chapter. **

**I'm probably forgetting a lot but my battery's about to die and I have no way to charge.**

**You guys are amazing for sticking with me through this...review:D**


	27. Chapter 27

Vance wasn't one for personal visits. But the leader of he MCRT was a right bastard. Gibbs refused to bring Alex to the Navy Yard, saying the boy was finally getting the rest he needed and wasn't going to be disturbed. The former Marine also refused to leave the teen with DiNozzo for a few hours to come to the Yard alone.

So, here he was, Director of NCIS, pulling into his agent's driveway. These were the days when he questioned why he kept Gibbs around.

Sighing, he got out of his car and walked to the front door. Before he could knock he was greeted by DiNozzo opening the door and motioning him to come in.

"Didn't want you to wake the kid," Tony explained closing the door behind the man.

"It's eleven AM." Vance argued.

"Teenagers sleep in, Director. Besides, he's been having trouble sleeping." Tony argued back, sitting on the couch, cleaning his gun.

"That so?" Vance asked offhandedly as he looked around for Gibbs.

"Yep, having to drug him to get him to sleep. My original plan. Gibbs will be down in a minute. He's checking on Sleeping Beauty." Tony informed.

"Good. We need to talk. It's about Blunt."

"What've you got?" Gibbs asked, finally making his appearance into the room.

"What I've _got_, Gibbs, is a problem." Vance said with a glare.

Gibbs only stared at the man waiting for him to continue.

"I spoke to the SecNav about Blunt and his little side business. Now, since Jack Starbright came from a military family and Rider is technically your kid now he's managed to get Blunt tried in front of a Military Tribunal. Now-"

"_Tried_? We have to go through a court system for this?" Tony asked.

"Well, yeah, DiNozzo. What did you expect?" Vance questioned.

DiNozzo shrugged.

"So, he'll be tried accused of Terrorism? He's British and he murdered an American on our soil. What are they going to do about Alex?" Tony asked.

"The United Kingdom has cut off all ties with Alan Blunt. We have their full cooperation. Daniels can tell you more about it. He's been handling the Britain side of things fairly well." Vance said.

Gibbs nodded slowly.

"Okay, so we managed to get him prosecuted by the Military. Who cares?" Gibbs asked. As long as the man was punished, he didn't care.

"Rider's gonna _care._ He's the victim here. You know what that means."

Gibbs stared at the man in disbelief.

"Absolutely not, Leon. Are you crazy?" He asked.

"What?" Tony questioned, momentarily lost.

"They want Alex to testify. Meaning he'll have to tell the judge about everything." Gibbs explained.

"So?"

"_So,_Dinozzo, Alex has a hard enough time telling _us_ about his missions, let alone a room full of strangers."

"If he wants Blunt gone this is how it's going to be." Vance said decidedly.

"Alex wont go for it." Tony predicted.

"Then convince him. If this is the last thing the boy has to do to get out of this life then I'd say he's getting off pretty easily." The director observed.

"Oh yeah? How would you feel if we put you in a room and made you confess all the horrible things that have happened to you?" Gibbs asked, knowingly.

The two men stared at each other for a long moment before Vance walked to the hallway.

"If Alex doesn't testify, Blunt's more than likely going to walk. Simple as that." Was the last thing the man said before leaving.

Tony look at his Boss who looked ready to kill. Finally the man stormed from the room muttering about 'Bastards' and 'Coffee'.

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It was only about half an hour later before Tony heard a car pull into the drive again.

Alex was still snoozing so he grabbed his gun and went and opened the door before whoever it was could knock.

He was surprised to see his former temporary roommate standing in the doorway.

"Hey Tony. Uh, Gibbs called me and asked me to come over?" Ben said awkwardly.

"Oh, cool. Come on in," Tony said, letting the man in.

"You haven't been occupying my couch lately. What's up?" Tony questioned.

"Vance got my accounts unfrozen. Your Boss isn't that bad."

Tony snorted.

"Man, I hope you're talking about Gibbs." He said as the man in question came to greet his guest.

"Thanks for coming, Ben. Vance was a bit vague about how your government feels about the US going after the head of your Intelligence Agency." Gibbs said.

"To be honest, I think they're happy. The Prime Minister's been wanting Blunt out of office for a long time. I think he feels this is the best way to get rid of him. You're not gonna have a fight coming from Great Britain. Especially since I'm here backing you up." Ben promised.

"Good. Too bad our Government's not being that helpful. The only way they'll _think_ of prosecuting Blunt is if Alex testifies and comes clean about everything." Tony said bitterly.

"You know if he comes clean a whole lot more people than Blunt could be in trouble. The CIA, ASIS, Hell, even the SAS might even get their asses handed to them." Tony said.

"As long as everyone is to blame I don't care who gets taken down." Ben said. He didn't necessarily want to see the SAS get into trouble. That was where his career first started, but Alex's life shouldn't have been violated the way it was.

"Blamed for what? Hey, Ben." Alex greeted, half awake.

"Hey, Cub. You look better," Ben said smiling warmly at the teen.

"I feel a bit better too. Thanks, Gibbs." Alex said softly to the marine, grateful for a well rested night.

Gibbs studied the boy to see if he was lying about feeling okay. It seemed as though Alex was telling the truth. His eyes look rested, he looked alert and ready to face what was left of the day.

"Welcome. Your arms feeling okay?" He asked, noticing the drainage coming from the sting.

"A little sore, but it's okay." Alex admitted, sitting down beside Tony.  
"That looks like a bee the size of a dog stung you." DiNozzo commented as he examined the wound.

"Feels like it too." The boy replied, before turning back to the soon-to-be ex- spy.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

Ben glance at Gibbs. The reason why he was here was to talk to Gibbs about Blunt and apparently the trial. Alex obviously didn't know he was going to have to testify yet.

"I came to check on you," Ben hedged, "I didn't get a chance to see you when you were in the hospital." Ben replied.

Tony looked at Gibbs, wondering if the man was going to go ahead and talk to Alex about the trial. But Gibbs only shook his head slightly. The marine knew this would have to be handled carefully. He knew Alex wouldn't be happy with the new turn of events. It had took every fiber Alex had to open up to him last night, let alone anyone else.

No, this had to be handled delicately. Preferably, with Ducky nearby. He had a feeling the man would help a bit more than he could.

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Gibbs called Ducky at four and asked for the man to come over after dinner. He informed the man about the upcoming trial, much to the man's displeasure.

"Emotionally, this could set him back with us, Jethro." Ducky had said.

When the ME arrived Gibbs urged DiNozzo to make himself scarce, knowing this would make the man uncomfortable.

Ben had already left, saying he had 'business' to take care of.

Ducky finally arrived with his medical bag firmly grasped in his hand.

"I don't think he needs a check up, Duck." Gibbs said as he led his friend to the living room to sit down. The Marine had been monitoring Alex's wounds with a careful eye.

"You can never be too cautious, Jethro. Now where is our young lad? I know he must be growing anxious about being left in the dark." Ducky surmised.

"Yeah, he's been watching DiNozzo and me like a hawk. He knows something is up," Gibbs said, going to the stairs to retrieve Alex.

As Gibbs approached Alex's door he found it wide open, as per usual. Very seldom was Alex's door closed.

Peering into the room, the man saw Alex kicking a soccer ball lightly back and forth between his feet as he walked the room.

"Hey," Gibbs called, adding a light knock to the door, a subtle gesture to the teen that this was, without a doubt, his room.

Alex turned around and looked questioningly at the man.

"Ducky's here. He wants to check you over."

The boy was cluing in on his vagueness.

"Oh really? Or did you call him to help talk to me about what it is you don't want to talk to me about?" The teen asked, but with a gentle smile, knowing the man before him wasn't with holding information from him to be an ass or to deceive him. Alex knew Gibbs was trying to find out the best way to break the apparently, grim news he had to deliver.

Although the anticipation was killing him, he didn't push, trusting him and allowing the man time to regroup.

"Nothing gets passed you, does it?" Gibbs teased as they headed down the stairs to Ducky.

"Ah, good evening, my dear fellow! You're looking healthier by the day." Ducky commented as he laid eyes on the teen and motioned him to sit down beside him.

Alex smiled at the older man and walked to the couch and let Ducky begin his poking and prodding.

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"Testify?" Alex asked blankly.

"For a judge to even begin to prosecute Blunt you're going to have to tell them about all of your missions, especially the blackmail. Normally there's a special way the justice system handles children victims who are testifying on the stand But this is a special case Especially with us going after someone so high up on the food chain. This isn't up to me, Alex. Vance and the higher ups have decided this. We're lucky they're even going to attempt to prosecute Blunt. This whole ordeal could cause an international mess. You're the only one who's been through every mission and who can tell us everything he made you do. No one else can do that." Gibbs said firmly, trying to justify, though there was no way to make this morally right...at least in Gibbs' book.

As an agent he knew Alex's testimony would be iron clad in getting Blunt out of office. Although as a father he was well aware of the hell he was putting Alex through. In the big picture he this was the best thing for Alex. The teen was going to have every bit of the past he was so desperately trying trying to leave laid out in front of him.

Alex had an unreadable expression on his face as he abruptly stood up on his feet.

"Can I have some time alone?" He asked, refusing to look at Gibbs or Ducky.

The ME nodded.

"Of course, my boy. We'll be up in a few to check on your injuries though." He heeded.

The blonde was already ascending the stairs by the time Ducky got to 'check'.

When Alex was gone Gibbs looked at Ducky.

"Well? Was that good or bad?" He asked.

Ducky sighed.

"I think it's definitely something to be concerned about. I think you should go up there, Jethro."

"He said he wanted to be alone." Gibbs pointed.

"As a parent, Jethro, you should know that sometimes it's not about what a child wants, it's about what they need." Ducky replied.

The marine considered this, then nodded at his wise friend.

"Alright, Duck. You win." He relented, clapping the ME on the shoulder as he stood.

Ducky chuckled.

"It's never about winning, but it is nice to hear you say."

Gibbs left Ducky sitting on the couch, completely engrossed in the television as he climbed the stairs to his teen.

When Gibbs entered the boy's doorway Alex looked up from his spot on the bed.

"I thought you said I could be alone?" Alex said, his voice was on the verge of annoyance.

Gibbs smiled inwardly. Finally, some emotions were seeping in.

"Those were Duck's words. Not mine." He replied, moving purposely to sit down beside the disgruntled teen.

They were silent for awhile before Alex turned to Gibbs.

"What if I don't do this?" He asked.

"Then Blunt walks and he gets away for all the pain he's put you through. Is that really the way you want this to end? With Blunt getting away with it?" Gibbs asked.

"No, but Gibbs...you don't understand...some of the things that's happened on my missions..." Alex trailed off.

"I know this is going to be Hell for you. But no one is here to judge what you did or what happened to you. They're there to take Blunt down and you're not going to be alone through this."

Alex took a breath.

I know. Doesn't exactly make this easier." He replied.

"I know. It probably makes it worse being under that pressure. But, at the moment, it's not something you need to worry about. It'll be awhile before we have to concern ourselves with it anyways. Don't let this get in the way of you getting better." Gibbs said, laying a hand on the boy's back.

"I know. I won't." Alex promised, although worry was settling deep inside his bones. There had to be a way for him to get out of this.

The Marine knew this wasn't going to quell the teen's worry, but he was suddenly struck with an idea. He just needed to talk to Abby.

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It was later that night when Gibbs heard the light footfalls of his teenager climbing down the steps.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked.

Alex sighed and sat down on the steps.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said lightly.

Gibbs sent him a sideways glance.

"Something on your mind?" He asked, putting down his tools and looking at the boy.

Alex seemed uncertain and didn't reply.

Gibbs went over and sat down on the steps beside him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Is she still in DC?" Alex asked quietly, not able to look at the man.

Gibbs didn't understand at first before it dawned on him. Jack.

"Yeah, she is. Her parents buried her downtown, close to where they live." He informed the boy.

The teen nodded.

"Will you take me there?" He asked hopefully.

Gibbs nodded.

"Of course, I will. _When _you're better and have had a good amount of sleep." He answered sternly.

Alex sighed.

"Why did I have a feeling this would be the condition?" He mumbled.

"Cause you know it's true. One decent night's sleep isn't going to cut it. I have a feeling if I was to bring you to that cemetery right now someone would mistake _you_ for a dead body." Gibbs said dryly, taking in the boy's still pale features.

"Well, that's always nice to hear, Gibbs. No wonder you've had three ex-wives." Alex replied with a knowing smile.

"DiNozzo tell you about them?" Gibbs questioned.

"Yeah, did one really hit you with a golf club?" The teen asked, his smile growing wider as he chuckled.

"Never date a woman that likes to golf, Alex." Was all Gibbs offered as he stood and walked back over to his boat.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

It took nearly another week before Ducky even considered letting Gibbs take Alex downtown to visit Jack's grave. The ME hated to keep the boy away from what could give him the closure he needed but he knew, medically, that the boy needed rest.

But as soon as he was well enough to stay awake for at least most of the day and when the pain from his injuries had calmed down Gibbs loaded Alex into the yellow Challenger and headed off.

Alex's mood had decreased drastically as it hit him where he was going. To see the last person that somewhat linked him to his past.

As they battled through town Alex remained silent as he looked out the window. Gibbs let it happen, knowing what the boy was going through.

Abby had heard about where they were going and dropped by that morning with flowers. She figured her usual black bouquet would be too depressing for the teen so she arrived with an assortment of different brightly colored roses for Alex to place on Jack's grave. Then, quietly she gave Gibbs two other smaller, but just as lovely, sets of bouquets. She gave him a knowing and reassuring smile before giving them both a kiss on the cheek as she darted out of the house.

It was a big cemetery but Gibbs knew about where to go to find the right headstone, having talked to the caretaker of the cemetery a few days earlier.

Alex was still walking at a slower pace but Gibbs didn't mind. It was a bright breezy day, there was really no need to be in a hurry. Gibbs was holding two of the bouquets leaving Alex with only the one.

Gibbs herded him in the right direction and as they got closer Alex noticed they were approaching an older couple. As they got closer and he got a good look at their faces he stopped and gasped, shaking his head at Gibbs.

"I can't do this." He said quickly.

"Yes, you can. It'll be fine." The Marine assured.

"I can't face them, Gibbs. I...I took her away from them." Alex replied, his eyes not leaving the couple who had their backs to them. The older man had his arm around the woman's shoulders, Alex could see them shaking slightly. She was undoubtedly crying.

Gibbs turned around to face Alex, getting in his way of looking at the two people."When she was taking care of you she wasn't anywhere she didn't want to be, and I've done told you her death wasn't to be placed on your shoulders."

"You keep saying that but we both know it's a lie. How is it not?"

"Because-"

"Alex?" Came a weary female voice from behind Gibbs.

Alex's breathe caught in his throat. He felt sick.

But he pushed on.

"Hi, Mrs. Starbright." He said, his voice choking at the end, his eyes glued to Gibbs' shirt.

Jack's mother had her red hair but it was disheveled and her eyes were puffy from crying.

"You poor boy, come here." She said, moving out of her husband's arm and grabbed ahold of the teen's shoulders pulling him in for a long hug.

Gibbs slipped the flowers Alex was holding out of his hands before stepping back, giving the two enough room.

He turned his gaze to Mr. Starbright. The man was quite a bit older than him although he looked much older. His face looked horrible and eyes were full of sorrow. A look Gibbs knew all too well.

"You must be Agent Gibbs." Mr. Starbright said holding out his hand.

Gibbs nodded.

"Just Gibbs."

The other man nodded as they shook hands.

"Call me, Adam then. This is my wife, Susan." He introduced, though Alex and Susan weren't listening to their conversation as they both held onto one another.

At first, the hug Susan Starbright was giving him was the last thing in the world he felt he wanted. But then, he smelled her perfume, it was the same kind Jack wore and it was enough to have him sinking into her embrace. Just for a moment he could pretend that the woman he was hugging so desperately was the one person he wanted. He felt the tears burning as he clenched them shut trying to force them back in. No such luck. All he could do was hope that Susan wouldn't mind a wet blouse.

Gibbs smiled sadly as he saw Alex's shoulders shudder as he began to cry. He saw that it caused Susan to only hold the boy tighter. This was what Alex needed to start to move on. The woman was crying silently as well and her husband put a loving hand on her shoulder.

Gibbs felt a bit intruding so he put the bouquet meant for Jack on the ground beside them, nodded to Adam and walked down to a spot he had become all too familiar with.

Standing in front of the two headstones he sighed. This part never got any easier.

He bent down and sat the two sets of flowers in front of the headstones and stepped back.

Gibbs wasn't really one to talk to a headstone so he silently stood there, knowing his presence was enough for his girls to know that he loved them.

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Alex didn't know how long it was before he pulled back from Susan Starbright. His face was flushed from crying and in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, son." Adam said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Jack, loved you so much. Every time she came home for a visit all she did was go on and on about you." Susan said wiping her eyes.

"They said the explosion was some sort of gas leak. I don't know if anyone told you or not." Adam informed which made Alex cringe. They had been lied to about their daughter's death to keep them from knowing about Alex and MI6. Another sacrifice the Starbright family had had to make because of him.

"Yeah," Was all the boy was able to manage.

"Honey, I don't want to bring up a sore subject. But what are you going to do now that Jack is gone?" Susan asked.

Alex managed a smile at her concern.

"I'm staying with Agent Gibbs now." He explained.

"How well do you know this man, son?" Adam asked.

"He's a friend of my Dad's. And he agreed to take me in. I'll be fine." Alex assured, hating how much he was having to lie to these people.

"If you say so. You know our number, you call us if you ever need us, okay? Even if you just wanna talk." Susan assured, pulling the teen in for one last hug.

"Thank you." Alex whispered into her ear.

Susan nodded before her and her husband were off to their car.

Alex saw Gibbs in the distance looking down at a grave and he knew whose it was so he turned with his own set of flowers and sat down in front of the fresh grave of Jack Starbright.

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Gibbs didn't know how long it was before Alex came up beside him.

He looked over at the boy. His face was red and his eyes were swollen and bloodshot.

"You okay?" He asked after awhile.

Alex shrugged.

"I will be." Alex replied quietly as he gazed at the headstones.

Gibbs sighed.

"Well, I think we've put ourselves through enough emotional torture today. Let's go home. Abby has a surprise waiting for you back at the house."

"A surprise? What am I? Eight?" Alex asked smiling. Abby was the only person who could lighten his mood at the moment.

"No, but I know for a fact you're going to like this surprise." Gibbs hinted.

"Well, what is it?"

"What? And have Abby mad at me for ruining it? I don't think so, you're on your own here." Gibbs said as he got to the entrance of the cemetery and climbed into his muscle car.

"First, I find out you're scared of Ducky now I find out you're scared of Abby. You know your tough guy demeanor sure is diminishing here, Gibbs." Alex teased.

Gibbs only smiled as his engine roared to life and he spun the car around and headed back to the house.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Come on, Gibbs. Just tell me what Abby got me. I'll still act surprised when we get in." Alex pleaded as they pulled into the drive.

"Nope." Gibbs said simply as he turned off the car and got out of the car, this time not waiting on Alex.

"Why is everyone here?" Alex asked, noticing that the team's cars were in the driveway.

Gibbs threw his hands up, shrugging, still not turning around so he could hide his smirk.

Alex sighed but followed the man into their house.

They walked into the sitting room to find everyone waiting on them.

"It's about time you got here. We were getting worried." Tony said, coming in from the kitchen with two beers in his hand and handing one to his boss.

"Alex! Gibbs didn't ruin the surprise, did he?" Abby said coming in and giving him a bone crushing hug.

"No, he wouldn't." Alex said, aiming a glare at the man in question.

"Well, that's good! Surprises are supposed to be a surprise." Abby said with a huge smile.

"Well, what is this big surprise that it seems everyone is clued in on except for me?" Alex asked, not seeing any presents in the room.

Everyone on the team shared a smile with each other before Gibbs went to the edge of the stairs and let out a shrill whistle.

Then, Alex heard footsteps approaching but before he could get a look at who it was Abby threw her hands over his eyes making him sigh insufferably but making Abby laugh.

The teen heard a familiar squeal of delight before he was engulfed in a hug. Alex didn't need eyes to recognize the familiar scent of the girl that was holding him. Sabina. It was as if everyone else in the room was gone. Sabina was here and it gave him some hope that maybe not his entire life was being changed.

Sabina angled her head so that her mouth was next to his ear.

"I missed you. And I am _so_ sorry about Jack. We're going to get you through this though." She whispered.

Alex didn't reply but only tightened his hold on her.

"I cannot believe this. I come all the way here from London to see this bloke and I don't even get a glance in my direction. I knew Sabina would take the spot light." Came yet another familiar yet sarcastic tone.

Tom Harris.

"It's because she's prettier than you, Tom." Alex teased as Sabina smiled and let go of her hold of the boy.

Gibbs and the team shared a smile as they saw the bickering. This was the most they had gotten to see Alex act like a teenager.

And he could only hope that between the lot of them they could lend a helping hand in getting Alex through what was to come.

**A/N- Finally we're getting into what's going to happen to Blunt...I haven't decided if I'm going to go through the motions of an actual tribunal...I'm taking a criminal Justice class at school so I know SOME of what the procedures are. But this is just my first year in the class. I didn't want Blunt tried in front of a regular court system because the Military Tribunal is a bit more tough. It's still basically the same thing as a court though. So, yeah I might have bent some official rules that would happen in real life. I don't know how our government would really handle this situation...this is just my poor take on it. ha.**

** I also thought that I didn't do Jack justice the way I just killed her off and that was just going to be the end of it. I decided to give Alex a bit more closure. **

** And NO this is not going to turn into a huuge love story between Sabina and Alex. She will be in here for one or two more chapters so calm down. I honestly don't know what all the fuss is about. I personally like Sabina quite a bit but I can't write romance stories anyways so you're all safe.**

** Ugh, I know I'm a horrible fanfiction author. I have not been replying to your reviews and haven't been for awhile. .now. You guys are taking the time to give me feedback on this story so you deserve a reply. Reviews will be answered this chapter. Any questions I didn't answer for you last chapter ask again and I'll absolutely answer the moment it enters my inbox.(unless I'm in schoolXD)**

** unrelated note about NCIS season 9- Who's watching guys? Every episode so far has made me tear up. NCIS is SPOT on this season. I absolutely love it.**

** Twitter- Icin_Nicole**

** Tumblr- Alexsonn (the name has nothing to do with Alex Rider)**


	28. Chapter 28

After everyone had left Tony pulled one of his movies and watched it with Alex and his friends. Tonight it was 'A Few Good Men'.

It hadn't been long before Sabina felt Alex breathing slower as he fell asleep beside her. Sabina smiled as she watched him sleep through Tony's commentary and Tom's laughter whenever Tom Cruise told a joke.

But Sabina's thoughts weren't on the movie. Abby had explained the situation to her on the way to Gibbs' house. The Goth had been the one to pick up her from her hotel. In the beginning she couldn't believe that Alex had gotten so close to someone that he agreed to let them adopt him. She knew Alex wasn't too keen on trusting people.

But when she saw how close this NCIS team was and heard Alex interact with them, her suspicion slowly morphed into acceptance and gratitude. There were many weeks that she would go with no response from the boy and her gut would churn with worry until she heard something from either Jack or Alex himself.

Alex usually had a tense hard demeanor about him when it came to adults. He didn't trust them and with good reason. That wasn't the case for the people in this team, if anything, Sabina could see the tension leave him as the team was close.

Especially when she saw Gibbs, Alex's new father, put a hand on his shoulder.

Alex trusted the team, trusted _Gibbs,_ to keep him safe. Sabina didn't know how the man had done it but she was grateful.

As she thought about the silver haired man she noticed that he was nowhere in sight. She looked around for any sign of him and her movements must have been picked up because Tony smiled knowingly at her.

"Boss is in the basement," He stated simply before nudging Tom and saying, "here comes the good part!"

Taking that as an incentive she got up and found the door to the basement. It was half open and she could hear the scraping of wood. Sabina slowly made her way down the stairs before stopping half way and knocking on the railing beside her.

The scraping stopped and she heard Gibbs give her the okay to come the rest of the way down.

She reached the last step and stopped short at the sight in front of her.

"A boat in the basement? Is that a marine thing I'm not aware of?" She asked, admiring at how beautiful it looked.

"More of a hobby. Helps me think." The man replied, as he moved to his work bench and picked up a tool.

"You must think a lot, then." Sabina said, causing Gibbs to smile but not offer any reply as he turned back to the boat and pulled out a measuring tape.

The girl studied him for a moment.

"You don't talk a bunch, do you?" She asked with a laugh, sometimes getting a reply out of Alex was this hard.

Gibbs shrugged.

"Most people who come down here have something on their mind. I'm willing to bet you're no different."

Sabina sighed, suddenly all the joking was gone from her as the man called her out.

"I like Alex. I liked him even before I knew he was a spy. He's fun and easy to talk to. I don't care how many states we're divided, we're still close. We can go months without seeing each other and when we finally meet up together we manage to pick up right where we left off with no problem. My parents like him too. I'm certain that if you hadn't been here to take Alex in then my dad would have done it. And...I don't know...I just...I'm so relieved that Alex isn't in danger anymore. Sometimes I would go weeks without hearing from Alex and then Jack or Tom would send me a message telling me that he's in the hospital. And I know that you probably can't see it as well as someone who has known him when he was being used by those assholes, but you can tell that it just looks like a load has been lifted off of him."

Gibbs looked at the girl. She genuinely cared for Alex. He could tell that she thought of Alex as more than a boy crush or some guy that she idolized because he had saved her life. No, this girl was worried about a boy that she wanted to see safe.

"Good. He didn't deserve the load that was on his shoulders in the first place." He replied simply.

Sabina nodded finally finishing what she had wanted to say to the man. She looked around the boat.

"So, do you name these when you get done with them?" She asked.

Gibbs nodded.

"Every boat's gotta have a name." He said.

Noise at the stairs pulled them from their conversation.

DiNozzo stuck his head in the door.

"Sabina, your dad's here. Boss, Alex fell asleep on the couch. What do you want to do with him?" He asked.

Gibbs placed his tools down on the bench, it was time to call it a night anyways.

"I'll get him. Go ahead and take Tom to the guest room." He said.

Tony nodded and smiled thinking about how this was the first time that more than one kid had invaded Gibbs' household for over twenty years. He held onto this thought as he went to get the spiky haired teen into bed. Tom amused Tony. He was like a little mini version of himself. He had been the one to go and pick the excitable boy up from the airport while Abby picked Sabina up. It had been pretty easy to spot the teen as he came out of the terminal since he was holding a poorly constructed home made sign that had 'I Am Alex Rider's Best Friend, Please Don't Shoot Me'.

Sabina and Gibbs walked up the stairs and into the living room for Sabina to get her things.

"You're coming by tomorrow, right?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, my dad's here doing a story on Congress and he has meetings most of the weekend that we're here." Sabina informed as she grabbed her things and leaned over a sleeping Alex and placed a kiss on top of his head.

"Tell him I said goodnight." She ordered Tom who was threatening to fall asleep too. The jetlag was really hitting the boy hard, hence the quiet demeanor he had a the moment. Tom gave the girl a mock salute as he went by her with Tony.

Gibbs walked Sabina to her dad's car and spoke with Edward for a few minutes, he had already spoke to the man over the phone when he was planning to bring Sabina to DC.

When he came back in Tony was showing Tom to the guest room while Alex still dozed on the couch.

The marine walked up to the teen and shook him.

"Alex, wake up." He roused.

The teen peered sleepily up at the man.

"Time for bed."

Alex sighed.

"I _was _asleep." He grumbled as he got to his feet and let Gibbs guide him up the stairs then he realized that everyone was gone.

"Sabina left?" He asked guiltily. He hadn't meant to fall asleep on her visit. She had crossed the country to see him after all.

Gibbs nodded as he opened the door to the teen's room and ushered him in.

"Yeah, her dad took her back to their hotel. She'll be back tomorrow." He assured.

The boy nodded and sunk gratefully into his bed.

"Thanks for bringing them here, Gibbs."

The man sat on the edge of the bed.

"No problem. I'm sorry they couldn't stay longer." Gibbs said. Sabina and Tom were still in school and were only here for the weekend.

Alex smiled.

"It's enough. I mean...I miss them...don't tell Tom I said that." He said with a yawn.

"I'm sure he knows. How are you feeling? This is the most excitement you've had in awhile."

Alex shrugged.

"I'm just a little tired. Nothing to worry about." He assured.

Gibbs nodded in acceptance. Now for the hard part. He reached into the nightstand and pulled out the sleeping pills. Alex had told him that he'd only take the pills the one time to help him sleep but that hadn't been how things worked out. Gibbs had talked him into taking them whenever he thought that the boy had too long of a day.

"You think you need them tonight?" He questioned.

Alex was long over refusing the pills. Not only did he know it was futile but he was beginning to realize that some nights he needed them. Ducky had also assured him that with his and Gibbs' guidance that he was in no danger of any complications but still...

Alex sighed.

"I can't keep taking them forever. I mean, sleeping through the night isn't supposed to be this hard."

"You can take them as long as you feel you need them. You shouldn't be afraid to sleep and if this helps then this is what we'll do. You heard Ducky this medication is something that some people take on a daily basis. It's not going to hurt you."

But the boy's mind was made up.

"I don't want them tonight."

Gibbs nodded.

"Alright, we'll give it a shot. You know where I'll be if you need me." He agreed as he stood to leave.

"I...I have a question." Alex stuttered, he didn't want to bring the subject up but it was something that was beginning to plague his mind more and more.

The Marine turned back around and peered at his teen.

"What's up?"

"The trial...Not everything is as cut and dry as you think it is..." He trailed off.

Gibbs only looked at the boy prompting him to elaborate.

"Gibbs, I've told you not all of my missions were strictly blackmailed. I went after SCORPIA on my own. I went after Yassen myself when MI6 wouldn't believe me about him. Whether I like it or not...I come from a family of spies and it's not just something I can turn off."

Gibbs was silent for the moment and Alex waited for him to respond with baited breath.

"You went after this Yassen guy on your own after MI6 wouldn't believe you. Why?" He asked, easily slipping into interrogation mode.

"The guy he was working for was going to kill people. And when I had the information to prove it...Yassen kidnapped Sabina and I couldn't just leave her. So I was on my own."

"And which mission was this? Your second?"

"Fourth."

"So, you risk your life three times before that and they couldn't do you one favor and look into your suspicions like an agency who's supposed to protect it's people? Especially when it involves a top assassin?"

"They said Cray, the guy Yassen was working for, was too charitable to get involved."

"And you managed to what? Save the world and your girlfriend?"

"...Kinda."

"That's what they're going to look for Alex. What drove you to doing what you did. MI6 wouldn't believe you so what choice did you have? And then your friend was in danger and the bad guys were blackmailing you. You will have your chance to tell your story. No one will be able to manipulate your side of things. Trust me. And even if they did exclude that mission there's what? Seven more to choose from where you were screwed over. Okay? Stop worrying about it. We'll have plenty of time to get prepared for this. If I knew you were going to react like this I wouldn't have told you so soon. You're not the one going on trial here. You're the victim. Now relax and go to bed. I'm handling it."

Alex sighed again.

"I know you are." He relented quietly as he sunk down into his bed for the night.

"Good, you're learning." The man said as he flipped the light off on the kids room leaving the door cracked.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Gibbs met Tony on the stairs.

"DiNozzo, perimeter check. Tomorrow night I want McGee on my couch. Not you. You need a break tomorrow."

"On it, Boss. But I don't mind staying." Tony said checking his gun at his side as he scaled down the stairs and towards the front door.

"Well I do. No sense in running you ragged when Ziva or McGee don't mind helping out." Gibbs replied firmly as he pulled out his cell phone.

"I gotta make a call. You see anything suspicious you come and get me you do not engage unless absolutely necessary." Gibbs called to Tony's retreating back.

"I got it, Boss."

When Tony was out the door he sighed. There _was_ one thing about the trial that needed addressing. A lawyer. As much as he didn't want to make the call he knew it had to be done. And there was only one person Gibbs knew who would more than gladly take this case and keep it private.

He found the number in his phone and his send. It rang a few times before he heard, "Mister Gibbs, just what can I do for you on this fine night?" Come out of the mouth of M. Allison Hart.

Gibbs gritted his teeth. No matter how much the woman angered him he knew she was a hell of a lawyer. She could help Alex. And it would be easy to get her seeing as she was NCIS's new Liaison attorney.

"I got a job for you..."

**A/N- Okay, this is a poor excuse for a chapter. It's short, nothing happens and it's poorly constructed. I'll do better next chapter.**

** As you can tell I'm putting this story at the end of season 8 so that Allison Hart( yeah, I know you don't like her...me ) can be Alex's lawyer and also so I can put things in motion for the sequel to this story I have in mind...(which will focus on Gibbs' job more and how it's going to affect Alex...but more on that later. We aren't quite done with this story yet.)**

** I'm sorry this took so long and things are hectic here. You guys rock. I know it's not much but reviews are still awesome and helps move the story along! Writers block has torn this chapter to bits.**


	29. Chapter 29

"I'm just saying. With skill like that you really should think about retiring and opening up a boating shop. You could make customized boats for people."

Alex and Tony exchanged glances with each other from across the table. Tom had been annoying Gibbs with these little random ideas for the better part of the weekend. Gibbs was holding his ground like a champ though.

"I don't make boats to sell, Tom." He said as he turned back to the book in his hands that he was attempting to read.

"Yeah, and retiring doesn't really agree with the Boss." Tony said hurriedly. The last thing he needed was the kid putting thoughts of leaving NCIS back into his fearless leader's mind.

Tom sighed at Gibbs. It wasn't everyday that he got the opportunity to try to crack the demeanor of someone as hardened as Gibbs'. This was proving to be a bigger job than he thought.

"When's Sabina coming over?" Tom asked, turning his conversation back to his best friend for the moment.

"Not until later. Her dad wants to have lunch with her before he has to go sit in a meeting for the better part of the day." Alex replied.

Tom and Sabina seemed to get along pretty well. Sabina's enjoyment for crude and particularly disgusting jokes fascinated the boy and he spent most of his time trying to find the a joke that would make Sabina cringe in disgust. No such luck.

"Wanna go outback and kick the football around?" Tom asked, he knew his job was to take Alex's mind off Jack's death.

Alex nodded and stood up to go get the ball.

"Don't over work yourself," was Gibbs' only caution as the two disappeared outside.

** ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

"Okay, be honest. Gibbs is like some super Marine, right? That's why he won't crack?" Tom asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the two NCIS agents and were kicking the ball around.

Alex laughed lightly.

"No, Tom. Just because you've finally met your match doesn't mean they have to be superhuman."

Tom glared. "Oh, what do you know? You're like the worse spy ever."

Alex raised his eyebrows.

"I am?"

"Well, yeah. If you were the best spy ever you would have noticed last night that Sabina couldn't quit staring at you." Tom said, dodging the ball that Alex had kicked unnecessarily hard at him for the little comment.

"She was only staring because I still look like I've been ran over by a truck."

"Yeah, I wasn't going to say anything ...but, really? A scorpion sting? At least tell people it was a snake or something and not a little bug that knocked you on your ass." Tom teased with a smirk as he kicked the ball back with just as much force.

"Tom...Shut up." Alex said with a glare and a smile. Only a best friend could manage to make fun of something like that and him be okay with it. Tom could make light of nearly any situation for him.

"So, tell me about this trial." Tom prompted.

Alex groaned inwardly but indulged his friend.

"NCIS is getting Blunt tried for all the stuff he's done. But for that to happen I have to appear in court and tell what all happened on the missions. In front of a whole courtroom of people."

Tom winced sympathetically for his friend.

"You're gonna do it, right?" Tom asked warily.

Alex looked up sharply at the boy.

"I don't really have a choice. If I don't Blunt could keep his job and Gibbs seems pretty determined not to let that happen."

Tom shook his head.

"I know you, mate. You're trying to find every reason to get out of this."

Alex sighed.

"Tom, this past year has been hell. I am so tired of...everything. I just want this to be over."

But Alex was lying. Anger boiled in his chest every time he thought about how pointless Jack's death had been. Blunt deserved worse than a trial.

But Tom seemed to buy his ruse.

"Yeah, I know. But it does look like it's finally ending. I mean you got adopted by a bad ass NCIS special agent. That's like the ultimate way to get protection from someone." he observed.

Alex laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, until I manage to get Gibbs killed like I did Jack."

Tom winced again. So much for keeping the boy's mind _off_ Jack. But then a voice saved him. Sabina.

"I don't think so," Sabina said as she approached Alex from behind.

"Good, you're here. Now will you please tell this guy that Gibbs isn't going to die because of him?"

Sabina sighed and intercepted the ball as it came toward Alex.

"Alex, Gibbs is a trained agent as well as a trained Marine sniper. I think he can handle bunch of jerks with guns. I mean that's been his job his whole life."

"My father and my uncle were both trained agents and they're dead." Alex noted.

Sabina shrugged.

"Maybe Gibbs is better than them." Tom said with a smirk.

Sabina gave him a look.

"Tom, we understand that you have a crush on Gibbs. Just calm down."

Tom gasped and put a hand on his chest.

"I don't have to take this kind of abuse. I'm going inside. Maybe Gibbs will let me use some of his power tools on his boat." He stated as he turned to go into the house.

"He doesn't use power tools. Only hand tools, mate." Alex called out to Tom's retreating back.

The boy turned to look back at his friend with a shocked expression.

"For the _whole boat_? That sounds...strenuous." Tom said but continued his walk to the house anyways. He knew his friend would want some time with his girlfriend.

Beside him Sabina chuckled.

"Tom's funny." She said as she walked a few paces away from Alex and kicked the ball to him.

"He has his moments." Alex said simply.

"So, you're trying to think about how to get around this trial."

Alex huffed.

"Why does everyone keep assuming that?"

"Because we know you. You'd rather stab your foot than tell someone about those missions. You would barely tell Tom and me about them."

"There's no point in talking about something no one can change."

"But this could change your future. You deserve a good life, Alex. And I'm not going to let you screw this up. I don't care if I have to fly back to DC and drag you into that trial." Sabina said as she got up in his personal space.

Alex smiled as he realized he had gained some height and was slightly taller than the girl.

"Oh, you think you could take me, do you?"

"Of course. We both know you wouldn't hit a girl. Hard to put up a fight if you can't hit your attacker, isn't it?"

"Ah, you forget that I now have a whole NCIS team on my side. I'm sure Ziva would have no problem protecting me from you."

Sabina's eyes momentarily widened.

"Tony told me she was an assassin. Is that true?" She asked.

Alex nodded.

"Oh, yeah. For Mossad. She's good too. She kicked my ass all over the boxing ring."

Sabina smiled.

"Aw, is your ego crushed a bit, Al'?"

"No more so than usual." He replied, noticing that Sabina still hadn't pulled away from him. They were still invading each others space, neither one of them making any effort to pull away either. His eyes darted down to look at her lips. He wondered if they were still as soft as they were when she had sauntered into his room that night in France. They sure looked it...

Sabina herself was fighting a smile as she seemed to follow the boy's train of thought. She knew he tended to be shy about things of this nature but it was starting to drive her mad. How much longer did she have to stand so close to him that she could feel his breath before he took the hint?

Alex's mind seemed to be made up. Sabina had crossed the country for him and there was no way he was going to let her leave without _something_ and who knew when they would be alone again?

Since his back was to the house he gestured with his head and asked, "Is there anyone eavesdropping?"

She sighed with a smile but looked over his shoulder to the house.

"No, I don't think I see anyone, Mr. Bond." She teased.

He smiled and nodded.

"Good." He replied before closing the gap between the two of them and their lips met. He felt her laugh cheerfully as they deepened the kiss.

"_Just as soft,"_ was the only coherent thought Alex was able to muster. Time must have gotten away from them for a bit because before they knew it a wolf-whistle was coming from behind Alex and a call of "That's my boy!" rang out causing them to break apart. He turned around to see Tom, Tony and, to Alex's dismay, Gibbs standing on the back porch smiling knowingly at them.

Sabina laughed lightly as she punched him lightly on the arm.

"In hindsight making out in the middle of the backyard probably wasn't one of our best ideas."

"Making out? Wow, barely a year in US and you're already assimilating to American slang."

They began their slow walk of shame back to the house and Sabina glared at him.

"You try saying the word _snog_ in front of kids at school here and see how many looks of utter confusion and mild disgust you get."

Alex smiled softly as they made it to the back porch and Alex turned to glare at his friend.

"Most friends would warn their friend when they're being watched."

"What a dull life those friends must have." Was Tom's only reply before he turned to Gibbs.

"Besides, Gibbs is taking us to NCIS so I can see a dead body."

Gibbs glared.

"No, we're going to NCIS because I need to meet with someone and you can't stay here alone. I don't want you anywhere near autopsy without Ducky with you."

"You don't trust me?"

"No. Because when I walked down into my basement you were reaching for my bottle of bourbon."

"Tom," Alex hissed, his glare returning.

"What? I was just...smelling it." Tom defended weakly.

"Yeah," Gibbs replied dryly before turning to Alex.

"How about it? You okay to go to the Navy Yard for a few hours?" He asked.

"Yeah, I feel fine." Alex agreed as he walked into the house to get a jacket.

It wasn't particularly cold outside but he was in short sleeves and the last thing he wanted was to draw attention to his bandaged wrists.

Last night had been his first night without sleeping pills helping him sleep and he was surprised to find that he actually got more sleep than he thought he was going to. He only woke up twice and each time he could hear Tony watching television downstairs and even Gibbs' near nonexistent footsteps as they made their way down the hall. He was safe. He was _home._

Just as he got his jacket and turned to walk back out, Tom entered the doorway and looked at the room.

"We gotta do something about this room before I leave." He stated as he cringed looking around the room.

Alex ushered him back down the stairs to meet Gibbs, knowing that the man didn't really like to be held waiting.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked as they made their way back to the agents and Sabina who were waiting at the door for them.

Tony and Gibbs were both checking their guns and Alex was surprised to find that the sight of the guns wasn't bothering either of his friends near as much as he thought it would. Once the boys were there they made their way out and towards the cars.

"It looks like a guest room, that's what's wrong with it."

"That's because it _is_ a guest room."

Gibbs looked sharply back at his teen at the last comment.

"I mean it _used_ to be a guest room." Alex relented firmly.

Gibbs gave a small nod before turning back around and headed for his Challenger.

"You sure you can keep up, DiNozzo?" The Team Leader called to his Second who was walking towards the government issued Charger.

"I think I can handle it, Boss. This baby can fly." Tony called.

"Just keep an eye out. Any sign of trouble you call me."

"I got your six, Boss," came the easy reply.

"This car awesome! Shotgun!" Tom cried as he ran to the car and flew open the door and popped the seat up to let his friends into the back.

Sabina and Alex climbed in the back while Gibbs turned the engine over and revved it up. Once the teens were all situated in the car Gibbs turned to look at Tom.

"Seatbelt, kid." He ordered.

Tom sighed heavily but did as he was told. Once they were out of the driveway Tom resumed his earlier conversation.

"Look, Alex, you need to personalize the room. It looks so boring."

"It looks fine, Tom. Let it go." Alex huffed rolling his eyes at Sabina who only smiled at his suffering.

"No, look, I didn't break into your old house and steal all your posters and pictures for nothing. We're hanging them up." Tom said as he looked out of the window.

"You broke into the house in Chelsea?" Alex asked with a groan.

"Well, what else was I suppose to do? I was there when you packed to come here in the first place and you left all the important stuff back in London. Who knows what MI6 was going to do with it now that you're not letting them use you like a puppet anymore?" Tom defended.

"You shouldn't have risked jail for it, Tom. You could've gotten into trouble." Alex admonished although secretly he was very touched at his friends thoughtfulness. He had wondered what was going to happen to all of the things in the house.

"Nothing's going to happen to the stuff in that house. I got Ben to call movers. It's all being put into storage until you and I decide what to do with it." Gibbs chimed in as he looked at Alex in the rear view mirror.

"Wait, so I risked jail for nothing?" Tom cried, causing Sabina to laugh.

"I think what you did was sweet, Tom." She assured, patting him on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Finally! Some appreciation!" Tom replied as he threw his hands into the air in exasperation.

Tom spent the rest of the car ride to the Navy Yard ranting about how under appreciated he was until Alex threatened him with bodily harm. By the time Gibbs parked the car and had gotten out of the car he was seriously considering locking Tom up in Abby's ballistics room until he was done with his business.

Tony was out of his car and was right behind them as they entered the building. He was vainly fixing his hair in the vague reflection on the elevator walls as the doors opened.

By the time they reached the bullpen Tom was nearly jumping up and down in excitement. This would be the first time he had stepped foot in an agency like this and he was determined to make the experience a memorable one.

Tony smiled as he saw Ziva and he crouched down behind the wall divider behind her desk in an attempt to startle the woman.

No such luck.

"Good afternoon, Tony." Ziva greeted as she didn't remove her gaze from her computer.

"How did you know it was me?" The man asked as he made his way to his desk.

Ziva only smiled mischievously at Tony before returning to her work.

Sabina pinched Alex on the arm.

"She's like a ninja." She whispered into his ear.

Alex smiled at her.

"She could see his reflection in her computer, Sabina." He explained, giving Ziva a knowing smile as they walked past her to stand beside Gibbs' desk.

Sabina mouthed the word _oh_ silently as the realization hit her.

Ziva glared playfully at the boy.

"You are going to have to stop giving away my tricks. Even the simple ones." She scolded.

Alex laughed lightly.

"Sorry." He replied before looking around to for Gibbs. There was no sign of the man.

"I thought Gibbs said he was taking time off." He stated, looking around to the team for an answer.

"He is." McGee replied simply.

"Then why did he say he had to meet with someone?"

The team exchanged glances.

"He's meeting with M. Allison Hart. She's a mean lawyer lady. Potentially your lawyer for the trial." Tony finally explained.

"Oh," was Alex's only reply before a loud crash came from behind Gibbs' desk.

"It wasn't me." Tom said, his voice muffled since he was crouched behind the desk.

"What did you do?" Alex demanded, moving past Sabina to see the damage his friend had done.

"Nothing! I just wasn't aware that a baseball bat was standard issue for an NCIS agent's desk." The boy replied pulling the bat out from behind the desk to show everyone.

"You keep messing with Gibbs' stuff and he's going to show you where you can shove that bat." Alex said snatching it from the boy and putting it back in it's place.

He then pulled Tom out from behind the desk and pushed both of his friends towards the elevators.

"We're going to see Abby. She's expecting us." Alex explained to the team, leaving them with no room to argue.

Once they were in the elevator Alex sighed and hit the button.

"Yes! I like Abby. She's pretty. Gotta love the Goths." Tom prattled on.

"We're not going to see Abby. Not yet, anyways." Alex stated.

"Then where are we going? Are you taking me to see a dead body? I knew you were my best friend for a reason." Tom said happily.

"No, what is it with your obsession with dead bodies? At the rate you're going you're going to be a serial killer before you're twenty-one."

"I just want to see if they look like the ones on the telly. Don't judge me." Tom defended.

"Can we get back to the part where you tell us where you're taking us?" Sabina chimed in.

"I want to see if we can hear what Gibbs is talking to that lawyer about." Alex said softly.

"Oh, Alex, come on! Will you just trust Gibbs to handle this?" Tom replied, his excited voice turn serious for the moment. Alex's lack of trust frustrated him to no end sometimes.

"I _trust_ Gibbs. I just want to be prepared for what's going to happen and I can't do that if Gibbs keeps leaving me out of things."

Tom and Sabina exchanged glances much to Alex's annoyance.

"Look, you don't have to come. If you want you can just go to Abby's lab. Tell her I had to go to the bathroom and I'll be there soon." He said, pressing the button floor that the forensics lab was on.

The doors opened on the floor and Alex pointed to the right.

"Go down that way and you'll hit her lab." He said, waiting for his friends to exit the elevator.

Neither did.

"Well?" He asked, holding an arm out to hold the doors open.

Tom and Sabina stared at each other for a moment before coming to an agreement.

"We'll go with you." Sabina said with a sigh.

Alex smiled and nodded.

"Good." He replied as he let the doors close and the elevator began it's journey to the conference room floor where he was hoping he would find Gibbs and this lawyer.

As they excited the elevator and they moved slowly down the hallway with Alex keeping a close eye out for his guardian. The last thing he wanted was to run smack into the man. That would be hard to explain.

"We're going to get caught." Tom said gravely.

"Probably."

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Gibbs sighed as he sat down across from Allison Hart. She had a smile on her face that made Gibbs' gut tighten. He placed the manilla folder in his hands on the table in front of him.

"Well, Mr. Gibbs. I have to say I was surprised that you had called me."

Gibbs sighed.

"I don't like the way you interfere with my investigations. But your ways may be what I need for this." He said.

"You were very cryptic over the phone. All you mentioned was a boy and MI6. I'm going to need more before I even decide to take this case, Gibbs. I gotta know what I'm getting myself into and just what is at stake here."

Gibbs opened the folder and slid a sheet of paper across to the woman.

She glanced at it and then slid it back across to him.

"Official secrets act? I'm already cleared to handle any case NCIS gets."

Gibbs only slid it back to her with a bit more force and replied, "Not for this, you're not."

She studied him for a moment before sighing and picking up the paper and reading it over like a trained lawyer should before applying the signature on the dotted line.

"Alright, spill."

Gibbs smiled, knowing he had her attention now. He grabbed the signed document before sliding the rest of the thick manilla folder over to her.

"That's all we have against the head of MI6 for endangering and blackmailing a fourteen year old orphan into working for them. Look it over and tell me if you'll do it." He replied settling into his seat preparing for a long wait.

The lawyer only looked at him incredulously.

"I can't just leaf through a case file. Especially one as big as your making it out to be. I need time." She protested.

Gibbs glared at her before sighing.

"Fine."

She stood up to leave but Gibbs only grabbed her shoulders and gently nudged her back down.

"You read it in here. I need an answer by the end of the day." Gibbs said smugly before turning to leave.

"You're serious?" Hart called after him.

"I'll bring you something to eat." Gibbs called over his shoulder before shutting the door behind him.

Allison Hart sighed at the man's ways. She would have protested but what the man had said about what was in this folder was more than a little intriguing. MI6 blackmailing a boy? This would be a big career boost if she won. She slipped off her heels and curled her feet into the chair to get more comfortable before slipping the files out of the folder.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Gibbs walked down the hallway to go meet up with his team and see just what they had been up to since he took his leave of absence. He knew he had just kind of left them high and dry without a team leader but he knew they could handle it and they knew if they ran into any problems that they could come to him.

He turned the corner and saw three teens with an ear to one of the conference room doors. Moving a bit more stealthily he edged a bit closer to hear what they were saying.

"You can hear someone in there but how do we know it's Gibbs and some lawyer?" Tom asked in a hushed tone.

Alex huffed, "Well, if you'll shut up I may be able to hear whoever is in there and tell you."

Sabina only rolled her eyes at the boys and pressed her ear closer to the door.

"You should have brought glass cups. They would have funneled the sound to your ears better." Gibbs announced, making the teens jump and turn around.

Alex sighed and shook his head while Tom looked at the Marine with wide eyes. Sabina on the other hand was glaring at Alex.

"You didn't hear him?" She said.

"See? I told you you were a horrible spy." Tom chimed in.

"He's a trained Marine sniper and I'm a fourteen year old who everyone _thinks_ is a spy. Don't confuse the two." Alex retorted.

"Close. You're a fourteen year old who's in trouble. What are you three doing?" Gibbs asked approaching the trio.

"Looking for a bathroom?" Tom supplied.

"_Tom,_" Alex groaned before sighing.

"I told Tony we were going to see Abby so we could come down here and see what you were talking about with this lawyer." He answered, realizing this was the first time he was actually in trouble with Gibbs. That made him a little apprehensive.

Gibbs only rolled his eyes before motioning back down the hallway that led to the elevators.

"Alright, back to the squad room. Now." He ordered.

He waited until they had began walking down the hall before following after them.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Ziva pulled out her phone as it began to ring from inside her coat pocket. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the caller id.

"Hello?" She answered.

_"It's been taken care of."_ Came Levi Kroll's voice.

"What do you mean by taken care of, Levi?"

"Check your email. I do hope this holds up my end of this little blackmail game. Shalom, Miss David." And then the phone conversation ended.

Ziva sighed and moved to open her email account. There were two unread messages. She opened them and scrolled through them.

The first one was a document from Mossad taking note that Kurst had been found dead on a pier in France. A simple bullet to the brain. There was no explanation as to what the man was doing on a pier or any leads to who had shot him. Ziva nodded once and moved to open the second document. This one was a picture. Of Kurst's dead body. Proof that the man was dead. Down at the bottom of the email was a note that said, _"being that Kurst is dead SCORPIA has officially called off going after Alex Rider. Kurst was the main one who wanted to go after the boy in the first place. SCORPIA is having a hard enough time sorting out who is going to take over as head of the organization.- LK.."_

Ziva leaned back in her chair, she would of course make follow ups to make sure that Levi had not deceived her but it looked as though the man had gotten the job done.

She heard the elevator ding and she looked over to see Gibbs walking in with the three teenagers trailing after him looking a bit guilty.

"Gibbs," She called and motioned him to her computer.

The Marine looked at her questioningly as he made his way to her desk and looked at her screen. He scrolled through the two and looked through them carefully before nodding and patting her on the back.

"That's a good job, Ziver." He praised softly before looking at Alex and motioning with his head for him to come over to them. The boy needed to see this. He needed to know that he was safe.

Alex narrowed his eyes suspiciously but listened to the man anyways, leaving his two friends looking curiously after him. Gibbs made room for the teen and the three of them squished behind Ziva's desk. Alex read through the email that Gibbs told him to. Gibbs left the email with the picture of Kurst's dead out of the boy's view. There was no need for him to see that.

Alex finished and then looked at Gibbs.

"So, they're going to leave me alone? No more of Tony or McGee having to sleep on the couch?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Ziva took care of it, Alex. That's one less thing we have to worry about now." The man assured.

Alex let out a deep sigh.. It felt nice knowing that he wasn't going to have to look over his shoulder and be worried about getting someone hurt.

Alex looked at the woman sitting at her desk peering at her computer monitor with an impassive look on her face.

"Thanks, Ziva." Alex said quietly.

Ziva looked up at the boy and saw the mild look of relief. The boy could cross one of the many weights on his shoulder off the list.

"I am happy that I could help, Alex," She said, standing up putting her hands on his shoulders. "You are more than welcome."

"Welcome for what? And where were you three? We went to Abby's lab and you weren't there." Tony asked as he and McGee entered the squadroom.

"Ziva's contact panned out. SCORPIA is finally off Alex's case. DiNozzo, I don't want you at my house tonight."

Tony only smiled, "Oh, come on, Boss. You know you loved having sleepovers with me...I know Alex did, at least." He said confidently.

Alex smiled.

"Yes, Tony. I'll miss our movie marathons and you falling asleep halfway though them and snoring in my ear." Alex chided as he moved back to his friends.

"It's okay, Alex. You still have me to keep you company for another night. Speaking of, since SCORPIA isn't after you does this mean we can hitch a ride back to your house and get started on fixing up your room?" Tom asked this to Alex but he looked to Gibbs for the answer.

Gibbs glared at the boy.

"Do you really think you deserve to be taken home? This is a federal agency you three could have overheard something you shouldn't. This isn't MI6 or the CIA but most of the stuff discussed behind closed doors aren't meant for your ears."

"Well, to be fair...It was all Alex's idea." Tom said pointing at his glaring friend.

"Oh, I know who the ring leader is. Why did you feel the need to spy on me?" Gibbs asked, he hadn't planned on hashing this out with the teen in front of everyone but this was something that he needed to get squared away.

Alex huffed and threw his hands into the air.

"I don't know. I know you're just trying to save me the worry but I can't live with you just handling all of this trial by yourself. Not this, Gibbs. I need to know what's going on. Being left in the dark isn't the way this is going to work with me."

Gibbs let out a humorless chuckle.

"Who's hiding anything from you? Alex, there's literally nothing to tell you right now. Allison Hart is in one of the conference room reading over a very brief overview of your case. She's a lawyer. She's reading over the file to decide if she even _wants_ to handle this case. That's it. There's no reason for you to meet her if she decides not to take the case."

DiNozzo then took his cue to chuckle to himself.

"Something funny, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, his glare turning to his senior field agent.

"I see what you're doing, Boss. Trying to save the kid the trouble of having to meet the woman if she isn't even going to take the case. That's nice, Boss." Tony answered, smile still on his face.

"Is she really that bad?" Sabina asked.

"She isn't exactly a walk in the playground." Ziva replied.

"Walk in the park, Ziva." McGee corrected.

"Thank you, McGee." Ziva said with a sigh.

"Aw, I don't think I'm _that_ bad." A woman said as she approached the bullpen. She gave the rest of the team a fake smile before approaching Gibbs.

"Okay, Mr. Gibbs. You win. I've seen enough. I want this case. I need you to get in touch with this kid's social worker so I can set up an interview. I need to hear every single detail this boy has since his uncle died." Allison Hart said causing Alex to stiffen beside Sabina and Tom. The two friends shared a glance at each other. They had seen the tense posture in their friend.

"Don't need to. M. Allison Hart, meet Alex Rider-Gibbs." The man introduced as he gestured to the tense boy. He slipped in the 'Rider-Gibbs' hoping that would be enough to explain the situation she was dealing with.

The acute lawyer senses seemed to kick in as she worked out what was being told to her.

"Well ain't that a kick in the head. Nice to meet you Mister. Rider." She replied as she held out a cold hand for Alex to shake.

"_Gibbs was right. I didn't want to meet this woman," _Alex thought as he reached out to shake the hand with a fake smile of his own.

**A/N- Okay, horrible place to end. But I had to cut it off at some point. I hope my Allison was okay. She's harder to write for than Gibbs is! **

** And Sabina and Tom turned out to be a bigger challenge to work out than I thought they would. And yes I know I lied to you. There did turn out to be a small romance scene. I wanted to try my hand at it again and I don't think it turned out that bad. There shouldn't be anymore. **

** And one side note that's been happening since I wrote the part where Tony**** says t****hat "****The CIA, ASIS, Hell, even the SAS might even get their asses handed to them." -_- Guys. NO, the SAS isn't going to get into trouble. I know they were just following orders. This is just the character dishing out theories. He doesn't know how this is going to turn out. I do. But HE doesn't. I know there's no way for the SAS to get into any real trouble. Tony shouldn't be able to list every single person that's going to get their "asses handed to them." That's just me trying to get add some mystery to it...apparently I failed and I am sorry. The PM's can stop now. Whew. Just calm down. **

** AND while we're on the subject of me failing at writing I've been getting some PM's about "Alex, isn't being enough of a spy. He's supposed to be guarded and non trusting." Well, I was trying to get the point across that the team was making him open up and realize that he doesn't have to do everything alone anymore...apparently I failed there too. My bad. **

** BUT as to Alex NOT beating Ziva in the ring? I won't apologize for that one. I honestly believe that a Isreali assassin could beat a 14 year old teenager that knows karate. Spy or not. I know some writers put Alex up on some high horse where he is just the most badass person in the world...but open the books guys. I know Alex is smart and resourceful and badass...but ya gotta admit in hand to hand combat? He either gets lucky or he finds some sort of leverage on the person. But in a friendly fight with Ziva David? He's gonna get his ass beat. In Stormbreaker it was said that the soldiers there beat Alex in the fighting portion of training and that he had to MAKE himself get back up no matter how many times they knocked him on his ass. **

** ….Okay, sorry folks. Rant is over and I'm sure half of you didn't read that(I don't blame )**

** And I know not many reviews got answered this time around. But it's in the middle of ****summer and I have nothing do this weekend so your reviews will more than likely be answered the minute they hit my inbox.**

** It's not much but I want to dedicate this chapter to all the people who died or who were injured last night at the Aurora Theater in Colorado as they were trying to enjoy a movie. I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard this. My thoughts are with these families and the injured and may the deceased know that justice will be done. /3 **

** Okay, I'm really done this time. Read and tell me how much it sucked! (I don't know what it is, the older I get the more I suck at writing!)**

** I'm on Tumblr!**


	30. Chapter 30

"Gibbs! Your wanker of a kid isn't sharing!"

"Really? You're going to tattle on me?"

Tony looked up at his Boss from across the kitchen table. Gibbs was calmly sipping his coffee as the violent thumps combine with indignant yells emanated from from up the stairs.

"You made a good call bringing Sabina and Tom here, Boss. They sure are helping Alex feel more at ease." Tony noted as he packed up the last of his overnight bag. With no threat to Alex or Gibbs it was finally safe for DiNozzo and McGee to leave Gibbs' couch.

"No kidding. He's talked more today than he has since he got here." McGee exaggerated.

"Yep." Gibbs replied calmly as what sounded like World War III continued to thunder from above them. Secretly Gibbs was pretty happy with how much his one phone call had made a difference for the boy.

Small smiles were coming to the teen's face now but Gibbs was also wondering how long it would last. What would happen when Sabina and Tom left tomorrow? Would Alex revert back to his depressed demeanor or was this lighter version of the boy here to stay?

The Marine knew the events of the trial were more than likely going to take a toll on Alex but he was determined to get him through it.

More thumps banged from upstairs as if the two teens were trying to tear down the whole second floor. So far Gibbs hadn't even flinched at the noises, just continued to drink his coffee and read his papers.

Tony and McGee exchanged glances, not knowing if they should leave Gibbs with the demolition team upstairs.

"They're making a lot of racket, Boss. You want us to go take a look at the damage?" Tony asked.

Gibbs shook his head, knowing what was going on in the room already.

"It'll stop soon." He replied as he finished his coffee and stood up to get a refill.

Their heads turned to the hallway as footsteps barreled down the stairs towards them and an out of breath Tom appeared in the doorway.

"Good, you're still here. Tony, we need your help." He announced.

"With what?"

"Moving Alex's bed. We need some muscle...but I suppose you'll have to do." Tom replied, causing McGee to laugh.

Tony glared at his friend before following the teen back up the stairs.

"What are they doing, Boss?" McGee asked.

"Tom went into Alex's old house and brought him a lot of his things to put up in his room before he leaves tomorrow."

"Does Sabina leave tomorrow as well?"

Gibbs nodded. They managed to get two flights worked out at nearly the same times so that Alex could say goodbye to his friends at once.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()().**

Alex rolled his eyes as he waited for Tom to extract his bags from the trunk of the car.

"You could help, you know." Tom grunted as he heaved it out.

Alex gestured to his wrist with the stitches.

"If I lift more than a cup of tea and strain these stitches Ducky will kill you, me _and_ Gibbs." He answered lazily.

"Yeah, yeah. Likely excuse, mate." But his baggage was suddenly lifted from his hands as Gibbs whisked by them, throwing the bag over his shoulder with ease.

"Pick up the pace. Tom, your flight leaves soon." Gibbs called over his shoulder, not pausing in his stride. It was obvious that his leg was healing fine.

"You're going to be okay here, right?" Tom asked quietly after a few moments of walking.

Alex considered the question as he looked ahead to the Marine in front of them.

"Yeah. I really think I will. Might take some time though." The blonde said.

"Good. And just because I'm in London doesn't mean that's an excuse to keep me out of the loop. I wanna know how this plays out."

Alex smiled lightly at the underlying worry. His friend was afraid they were going to drift apart.

"McGee let me have his old laptop. It's got a webcam. I'm going to have to tutor you through Spanish class. I'm the one who made you take the class in the first place."

They shared a look and nodded in agreement. Ocean would be the last thing that ruined their friendship.

They approached the stewardess taking tickets and Gibbs busied himself looking out of a nearby window as the two boys shared a quick hug before pulling apart.

"Bye, Al'" Tom called, walking to the door leading to the plane before stopping and running full force into Gibbs.

"Goodbye, Gibbs! You take care of Alexis." He ordered as Gibbs sighed.

"Kid, if you don't get on that plane..."

"Call me when you're home, okay?" Alex replied.

"Yes, mother." Tom called with a wave before disappearing the door.

Gibbs looked over at Alex.

"Brace yourself" He warned.

"What?" Alex asked confused before suddenly arms enveloped him from behind and he stumbled to keep his footing

"Alex! I'm going to miss you! You have to promise me to call more!" Sabina announced, spinning the boy around to face her.

"I will, Sabina." Alex said, pulling her in for another hug.

"Promise?" She whispered into his ear.

"Of course," He answered, mimicking her.

They pulled apart and Alex saw Sabina's dad smiling at them a few feet away.

"Alex. It's been good seeing you. You need anything you don't hesitate to call us. We'll be more than willing to help. I just wish there was more we could have done for you."

Alex nodded.

"Thanks, Mr. Pleasure."

Gibbs shook hands with the man as Sabina and Alex shared one more hug before the father and daughter also disappeared through a door to their own plane.

Alex sighed heavily and Gibbs clapped him on the back.

"I don't know about you but I'm hungry. You wanna go the diner and grab something to eat?" The Marine asked.

"Is this the diner where you and that lady hit on each other the whole time?"

"I do not hit on her the whole time."

"Yeah, I'm sure she just gives you all that free coffee because she likes your conversational skills."

"Just be glad I'm not using you as a way to pick up women like DiNozzo tries to do."

Alex laughed as they walked out of the airport and moved to the man's car and they weaved through DC to the nearby diner.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Alex sighed as he looked around the empty house. He finally had a moment to himself to collect his thoughts. Gibbs had went to the Navy Yard after they had eaten to look in on the team and Alex had decided to stay behind. This was his first time alone since he had landed in America.

Allison Hart would be stopping by later and Gibbs had already warned him to be ready for the woman's grueling questions.

He was hit with a sudden pang of loneliness and he was suddenly thinking he should have taken Gibbs up on his offer and went with him to NCIS. Then, it struck him how much he was beginning to depend on the team to keep him grounded. This was new to him. Before he had met these people he would not have minded being on his own but here he was wishing the team was with him.

Being a spy you were normally just on your own. Gibbs was slowly getting that out of his head.

As he lounged on the couch, idly looking at the flickering TV his thoughts drifted to the trial. What was he really expecting to result from this trial? For Blunt to just lose his job? Prison? Death? They were in America. It was certainly possible.

Anger rose up in him when he thought of Blunt going to sleep peacefully at night while he tossed and turned as nightmares encompassed his mind.

This man had ruined his life and it was time the man knew what it felt like to have his life upturned against his will.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Gibbs rubbed his eyes as it was finally time to leave the office. They had done nothing but catch up on paperwork and the whole team was understandably worn out from it.

This was the first time he had left Alex alone since the whole mess started and while he trusted that Ziva had taken care of SCORPIA he couldn't help but feel anxious.

He was starting to gather his things to leave when he felt a body approaching his desk.

"You're early. Steaks won't be on the fire until at least another hour and a half."

"I know. I figured I could get there early and I could speak to Alex while you cooked. And I come baring news. The prime minister has suspended Blunt pending the court's verdict, and Blunt's been summoned to DC. He'll be staying in a safehouse until it's over." Allison informed.

Gibbs simply nodded, but he was secretly impressed by the progress she had made.

"You can come but you're not going to overwhelm Alex. Not in his own home." Gibbs warned as they made their way into the elevator.

"You know you can't protect him forever."

Gibbs looked over at the woman.

"It's time somebody protected the kid. We'll see if you still feel that way after you've heard his story."

"You've heard the whole story?"

"Nope."

"Then how do you know how bad it will be?"

"That's the point. I don't need to hear the whole thing to know how bad it is."

The woman gave a half shrug and Gibbs felt a pang of sympathy for any kids the woman may wind up having. This woman was cold.

The elevator dinged and opened at the parking garage. Gibbs went to move to his car before the woman called after him.

"Can I get a lift or should I drive my own car?"

Gibbs shrugged, not stopping his walk to his car.

"If you ride with me you'll have to take a cab home. After dinner I told Alex we'd work on the boat."

"You're making him work on your boat with you? Is that why you took him in? Cheap labor?"

"If I wanted cheap labor I would've made DiNozzo do it."

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Alex looked up from his laptop as he heard the rumble of Gibbs' car pull up in the driveway. He closed the computer and made his way to the stairs.

"I put the potatoes on boil like you asked. You're on your own with everything else unless you want your kitchen burned down." Alex joked as he heard the door open.

"Ah, you can't be any worse than DiNozzo." Gibbs called back to him.

Alex smiled at the though as he got to the end of the stairs. His smile faltered as he realized they weren't alone. His new lawyer was standing beside Gibbs. Alex's stomach dropped. She wasn't supposed to be here yet.

"Hello, Alex." The woman greeted as he pulled her coat off.

"Hi." He could only answer lamely.

Hart moved to the couch and sat down with her briefcase and began pulling out papers.

Gibbs walked to the kitchen and immediately Alex followed him.

"I thought she wasn't going to be here until later."

"Changed her mind."

Alex sighed heavily.

Gibbs looked up from where he was dragging out his cooking supplies.

"You knew you were going to have to talk to her tonight." He noted.

"I know. I just thought I had a bit more time is all."

"You'll be fine." Gibbs assured.

The teen looked curiously at the man.

"It doesn't bother you that I'm about to go into that room and tell a complete stranger something that you deserve to know more than she does? I mean you're the one who took me in Gibbs. You nearly died because of me and you want me to tell her all the events that led to this before you."

This made Gibbs stop what he was doing to peer bemusedly at boy.

"Because I know for a fact that you're not going to tell her the whole story. You'll give her the formal briefing that you gave Blunt after your missions and that will be it. And you're only tell her this because you know you have to. I want you to come to me on your own. Like I said before I'm not going anywhere."

Alex smiled as a sense of warmth spread throughout him at the statement.

"Still doesn't make this any easier." He said, having to fight the urge to glare childishly in the direction of the living room where he knew the woman was.

"Well, think of it this way. The quicker you get done, the quicker we can eat." Gibbs bribed.

"What are you cooking?" Alex questioned.

"Steaks. Mashed potatoes and whatever else I can find in the cabinet."

"Steaks, yeah, that's good blackmail." Alex said with a smile.

Gibbs smirked and they shared a look with each other before Alex sighed.

"Fine. But these steaks better be good and if you hear a thumping noise that's just me ramming my head against the wall. Repeatedly."

"Duly noted." Gibbs called to Alex's retreating back.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Alex sighed heavily as he finished the last summary of his last mission. Like Gibbs had predicted, he had kept to the facts and kept it simple but even as he tried to keep it simple the look of disbelief on Hart's face was priceless as he finally lifted his gaze from the spot he had chosen to stare at as he spoke.

Suddenly aware of the uncomfortable silence that had enveloped the room, Hart schooled her features as she cleared her throat and put away her notes she had been taking.

"Well, Alex, I think it's safe to say you have a case against Blunt."

"Do ya think, Hart?" Gibbs asked dryly as he sauntered in with the steaks he was about to put in the fire.

"Are we done?" Alex questioned, looking up the stairs and towards his room.

"Yes, I think so," Allison replied. That was all Alex needed to hear before he dashed for the stairs, mumbling something about going to his room as he went.

Allison sat back on the couch as she let out a deep breath.

"You're a good man for helping him, Gibbs. By the sounds of it you're the first one to have done much of anything for the boy." She said. Her earlier lack of caring demeanor now crushed and filled with pity for the teen. Just as Gibbs had predicted.

"What defense are you suspecting Blunt will take?" He asked, changing the subject swiftly.

"Insanity is about the only thing I think the man would pass for if I was on the jury. I mean blackmailing a kid and then ordering a hit on his guardian is not going to be easy to try to talk yourself out of. I don't care what kind of lawyer he gets."

"Do we know when the preliminary hearing is?"

"Soon, I hope. The sooner we know his angle the sooner I can get to work on crushing it."

"How long do you think this is going to last?"

"Military trials can be drawn out. It all depends on Blunt's defense. You said we had an MI6 agent that was willing to testify against Blunt?"

"Ex MI6 agent and yes. He's still hanging out around DC. I asked him not to stray too far and he agreed as long as it didn't cause him problems." Gibbs explained as he flipped the steaks over.

"I'll need to speak with him as well. I need to know all that he knows. When he first met Alex down to the last time. He's Ben Daniels, right?" She asked as she pulled out her legal pad to make a note of the name. She heard Alex mention his name a few times towards his last summary of his mission.

"Yeah. I'll call him in the morning and ask him to meet you at the Navy Yard."

"And lastly, do you have any medical records of the boy? He was shot, I know, but that was about it on the medical details I could get from the boy other than ' I got a few scrapes, nothing major'."

Gibbs prodded at the steaks some more before deciding they were done. He pulled them off the fire and onto a plate.

"I know a file was sent to Vance about his health issues, mainly the GSW. I think Ducky still has it."

She nodded once, glad that her evidence was falling into place. She tossed the legal pad back into her bag before sighing.

"Tell me the food's done."

Gibbs nodded as he carried the meat back to the kitchen table.

"Alex! Food's done."

The Marine heard Alex's door open before a very distinctive laugh emanated from the teen's room that made Gibbs stop what he was doing and glare at Alex as he came down the stairs.

"Was that Tom's laugh I heard in your room?"

Alex looked blankly at the man, "Yes?"

"_How_?" Gibbs questioned wildly.

"We were on Skype together." Alex said as if that explained everything to the man.

Gibbs' blank stare made Alex laugh as the boy assumed he was pulling his leg. Upon Gibbs' dead serious expression he turned to Hart who was trying her best not to laugh.

"You're serious?" Alex asked in disbelief as he looked back at Gibbs.

"What's a Skype? And why is Tom laughing on it in your room? Alex, I swear if Tom did not get on that plane..."

"Oh boy...Good luck, kid." Hart said to Alex as she walked into the kitchen to get herself a drink.

Alex sighed with a smile as he attempted to explain to the electronically handicapped man in front of him what Skype was. Apparently telling Gibbs about Tom's rebellious antics from their childhood wasn't such a good idea after all.

**A/N- hehe. That ending cracked me up...a bit OOC but I liked it so it stayed for some reason.**

**I don't know how I managed to get this done out of ALL the weeks I could've done this. This week is the last week before my finals start but apparently I choose NOW to write. My brain is not a fan of me.**

**Again, I'm sorry for the wait...and the fact that not much happened. I'm TRYING to wait until after February to start writing any major trial parts because if I DO decide to put a lot of the trial in this story I need to be more...familiar with courtroom proceedings...and guess what I got a few weeks ago? JURY DUTY YAY...not. But I think it will help me a bit in writing even for a military trial. **

**And I know you hate me. I'm seriously becoming the worst FF writer ever by making you guys wait so long for something that isn't all that good to begin with!**

**For all of you guys who want Alex to be more independent I think you're going to like how this 'trial' plays out. ;) I had a lightbulb idea the other night and it's a doozy. **

**OH, and I've been re reading this story...I don't know HOW you guys managed to keep reading this after reading some of the earlier chapters. Whew. I'm going to be going back and revising some of these chapters. It won't change anything there's just a few technicalities that need to be fixed...I mean Gibbs GIVING Alex a gun? WHAT was I thinking? That will be changed. It's things like that that will be changed nothing major enough to go back and re read. I'm telling you this because I'm not sure if when I redo a chapter if it will alert anyone that has this on story alert...if it does I'm sorry. **

**AND I will be changing my username from "Midnight Muse14" to "Alexsonnn" soon. I hope that doesn't frustrate too many people. It's just easier for people from other websites to find me through this name.**

**And to the guest user AgentStorm- YES, you can request a story. I have written down your request I will get to it now that I have updated this story. ^_^ I love getting requests. I'm just sorry it took so long for me to get to it! Look for it soon! I will post the name "AgentStorm" in the summary box so you'll know what to look out for!**

**I have an Ask Tom blog on Tumblr that collaborates with the AskAlexanderjohnrider blog! Go follow it and ask Tommy questions! **


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